Pakistan continues to spin badly
Inherent in the US policy on Pakistan is the belief that the Pakistanis must deal with their tribal regions because a "stable" Pakistan is more important than ending the Al Qaeda presence there.
But what happens when the Pakistanis aren't up to either stability or combating Al Qaeda?
Militants said Saturday they captured two police stations and 120 security forces in a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan that has increasingly fallen under the control of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked extremists, bringing further embarrassment to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government.
(WaPo) "U.S. Warns Musharraf Not to Use Martial Law" (includes another report of a likely US missile attack in N. Waziristan.)
(Photo: Masked militant supporters of Maulana Fazlullah, a hard line cleric, armed with AK-47 assault rifles stand guard in Charabagh near Mingora, the main town of Pakistan's Swat district bordering Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 2, 2007. Dozens of paramilitary troops defect in northwest Pakistan saying they do not want to fight their Muslim brothers, an embarrassment to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as he struggles to regain control of an mountainous region from Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants. (AP Photo/Mohammad Iqbal))
posted by mikevotes at
6:56 AM
2 Comments:
The rebellion in Swat is a big deal because it's the first time this insurgency has moved beyond the federal tribal areas. Now the U.S. is militarily engaged in propping up an unpopular dictator (again).
At any rate, the state of emergency won't help Musharraf very much. He's still walking a tightrope between making the U.S. happy and making his domestic islamists happy. And he still has the long-standing, low-intensity conflict with India on his other border to deal with.
If sending drones in to fire missiles at tribal area targets is a winning strategy, why did we wait until now to do it? Because it would make Musharraf look bad. How does he look now?
By
Todd Dugdale , at 12:35 PM
The US has been periodically sending missiles and drones into the tribal areas on specific targets(maybe one attack reported every 6-9 months.)
As for Swat, I agree. I'm also thoroughly amazed at the damage to the Pakistani army being done by the the Taleban forces (not completely, but lacking a better term.)
Morale is reportedly low, and there have been sympathizers and defections, but really, the local forces are crushing the Pakistani military. There are hundreds of Pakistani soldiers in capture right now.
By
mikevotes, at 1:29 PM
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