Taliban in Swat

[Martinus]

Mart, how does it feel to see that Siegy is the ONLY person who agrees with you.

Kevin

So far the only persons who disagree with me include yourself and Jacob - explain to me why should I care for an opinion of cuntslave race traitors?

[Josquius]

Iran's regime has been around quite a while.

30 years is not a while.
And it is deeply unpopular.

30 years is actually a pretty decent amount of time IMO.  The regime's grip on the country remains very solid, regardless of how unpopular it is with some Iranians.

30 years isn't even a generation.
Iran is a strange one. Its not a out and out Islamic fundamentalist regime, it is also partially a democracy. The presense of the democratic side and that pre-Ahmadiajad (spl) reforms were being made will make people trust in the system.
From what Iranians tell me the general feeling is also that if they were to have another revolution then the replacement would be even worse than what they have now- as happened before.
Also of course there's the golden rule that people who are well fed don't rebel.

[Eochaid]

So far the only persons who disagree with me include yourself and Jacob - explain to me why should I care for an opinion of cuntslave race traitors?

 

And what race would that be? I thought we were talking about civilisations and intrinsic political leanings :p

Kevin

[Neil]

That's one nice-looking terrorist factory.

Only until you feel the pain of muslim terrorism.

Who cares?  None of us will ever be affected by Muslim terrorism.

[citizen k]

Update:

Taliban extend hold, advance near Pakistan capital

By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Wed Apr 22, 11:00 pm ET
                   
ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants have extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the capital. Police and officials appear to have fled as armed militants also broadcast radio sermons and spread fear in Buner district, just 60 miles from Islamabad, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.
Pakistan's president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven's 1.5 million residents.
Critics, including in Washington, have warned that the valley could become an officially sanctioned base for allies of al-Qaida — and that it may be just the first domino in nuclear-armed Pakistan to fall to the Taliban.
"The activities in the Swat do concern us. We're keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military," Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker told Pentagon reporters in a 35-minute videoconference call from Afghanistan.
Supporters of the deal say it will allow the government to gradually reassert control by taking away the militants' rallying cry for Islamic law. Many residents are grateful that a semblance of peace has returned. A handful of officials are back in Swat.
The agreement covers Swat and other districts in the Malakand Division, an area of about 10,000 square miles near the Afghan border and the tribal areas where al-Qaida and the Taliban have strongholds.
The provincial government agreed to impose Islamic law in Malakand, and the Taliban agreed to a cease-fire that has largely held.
In recent days, the Swat militants have set their sights on Buner, a district just south of the valley, sparking at least one major clash with residents. The moves indicate the militants want to expand their presence beyond Swat to other parts of Malakand at the very least, under the guise of enforcing Islamic law.Many in Buner are now too frightened to speak to reporters. However, a lawmaker from the area told The Associated Press that the militants had entered the district in "large numbers" and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.
"Local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks," Istiqbal Khan said.
The militants in Buner also are using radio airwaves to broadcast sermons about Islam, and have occupied the homes of some prominent landowners, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men's beards and stores to stop selling music and movies.
The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said. Militants also have taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi saint known as Pir Baba, he said.
The Taliban move into Buner left the Swat deal hanging from a thread, said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences.
"If the Taliban continue to expand in different directions and establish fiefdoms as they did in Swat, then probably the deal is not going to work and the government will be forced to scuttle that deal and go back to operations" by security forces, Rais said.
The provincial government's chief executive said authorities were prepared to use force if the Taliban didn't "pack up and go home" from Buner. But Haider Khan Hoti also pleaded for patience and rejected Western calls for a more aggressive approach.
U.S. missile attacks on militant targets in the northwest were undermining Pakistan's efforts to find a peaceful solution, he said.
"This is our country, we will have to look at our own priorities and our own interests," Hoti said. "We should not enter any friendship at the cost of our own destruction."
Since the provincial government agreed to the deal in February, Taliban fighters had adopted a lower profile and stopped openly displaying weapons in Swat as part of a cease-fire.
But on Tuesday, upon the radio-broadcast orders of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, the militants began roaming parts of the valley with rifles and other weapons. An AP reporter saw the patrols in Mingora, the valley's main city.
Residents from nearby towns in Swat said militants were setting up checkpoints on several roads. The residents requested anonymity out of fear for their lives.
Fazlullah ordered his fighters to withdraw again in a broadcast on Wednesday. He didn't explain why.
Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan could not be reached for comment.
Khan said recently that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the U.S. from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat — a statement the government condemned.
He also said the militants want to see all of Pakistan under Islamic law — a cry echoed by several other Islamist firebrands.
Rais, the professor, said there was concern that Islamists may have concluded from the Swat deal that authorities will cave in to violent demands for Islamic law elsewhere.
"They have natural allies in the religious political parties in other parts of the country. They have social and religious networks that have support their suicide attacks and attacks against the security forces," Rais said.
"It is about the identity of Pakistan and the future direction that Pakistan can take."



Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Lara Jakes in Washington contributed to this report.

[citizen k]

More bad news:

Militants burn NATO fuel tankers in Pakistan
By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer 
                 
ISLAMABAD – Dozens of militants armed with guns and gasoline bombs attacked a truck terminal in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday and burned five tanker trucks carrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, police said.
NATO and U.S. commanders are seeking alternative transport routes into landlocked Afghanistan amid mounting assaults on the critical main supply line through Pakistan.
Militants attacked the truck depot near the city of Peshawar before dawn, hurling gasoline bombs which set fire to the five tankers, said Abdul Khan, a local police official.
Security guards fled and the assailants made their escape before police arrived, Khan said. Several truckers drove their vehicles out of the terminal to save them from the flames, which were later doused by firefighters, he said.
NATO and the U.S. military insist that their losses on the transport route remain minimal and have had no impact on their expanding operations in Afghanistan. Most of the fuel for U.S. troops in Afghanistan comes from Central Asia.
However, a series of attacks on terminals as well as on convoys heading through the nearby Khyber Pass into Afghanistan have contributed to concern that militants could paralyze or even seize control of northwestern Pakistan.
The government faces stiff criticism at home and abroad for striking a peace deal that includes the introduction of Islamic law in the nearby Swat Valley, from where Taliban militants appear to be expanding their authority.
Officials and witnesses said Wednesday that Taliban gunmen were mounting patrols, broadcasting sermons and spreading fear in the Buner district, just south of Swat and only 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Islamabad.
President Asif Ali Zardari approved the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the valley's 1.5 million residents.
Critics, including in Washington, have warned that Swat could become a base for allies of al-Qaida — and might be the first domino in nuclear-armed Pakistan to fall to the Taliban.
Supporters of the deal say it will allow the government to marginalize hard-liners and gradually reassert control by taking away the militants' rallying cry for Islamic law.
Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

[jimmy olsen]

30 years isn't even a generation.

Yeah, it's a generation and a half. A generation is 20 years.

[Josquius]

30 years isn't even a generation.

Yeah, it's a generation and a half. A generation is 20 years.

Wow you Americans breed fast.

[KRonn]

Well all other arguments aside, with the support or lack of opposition Taliban has been getting by the government, and the advances they're now able to make, Pakistan is entering more and more "interesting" times, dangerous times.

[Berkut]

Wait just one damned minute here!

I someone telling me that once the Taliban secured their hold on Swat after their deal with the Pakistani government, now they are trying to expand beyond it into other areas????

Why, that seems impossible, since the deal was designed to avoid just that very thing!

I kind of feel bad for Pakistan - it seems like kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan has just meant that they've realized the tribal areas of Pakistan are a lot more of a mess anyway.

The Swat deal failed due to lack of vision. I think they should make a deal with the Taliban to give them all of the tribal areas and the bordering regions of Afghanistan for the new state of Talibanistan. That will surely satisfy them and bring peace.

[jimmy olsen]

Man, I wonder how much the Taliban would have to advance to trigger a preemptive Indian strike?

[Sheilbh]

Well all other arguments aside, with the support or lack of opposition Taliban has been getting by the government, and the advances they're now able to make, Pakistan is entering more and more "interesting" times, dangerous times.

I read an article about this recently that I've since lost.  What's really worrying is that the strategy the Taliban used to build local support could shift very easily to Punjab which has a similar rural social structure to Swat.  Now Swat's tiny.  It's a small part of the North-West Frontier Province with just over a million people.  Punjab is massive and has a population of around 80 million. 

You have two parties that either can't or don't want to push back militarily and a military that in many ways helped create the Taliban.  I've not yet read a realistic or achievable idea for stabilising Pakistan far less for pushing the Taliban back a bit.

[Josquius]

Wait just one damned minute here!

I someone telling me that once the Taliban secured their hold on Swat after their deal with the Pakistani government, now they are trying to expand beyond it into other areas????

Why, that seems impossible, since the deal was designed to avoid just that very thing!

I kind of feel bad for Pakistan - it seems like kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan has just meant that they've realized the tribal areas of Pakistan are a lot more of a mess anyway.

The Swat deal failed due to lack of vision. I think they should make a deal with the Taliban to give them all of the tribal areas and the bordering regions of Afghanistan for the new state of Talibanistan. That will surely satisfy them and bring peace.

Whatever is the world coming to?
If you can't trust the Taliban who can you trust!

[KRonn]

Well all other arguments aside, with the support or lack of opposition Taliban has been getting by the government, and the advances they're now able to make, Pakistan is entering more and more "interesting" times, dangerous times.

I read an article about this recently that I've since lost.  What's really worrying is that the strategy the Taliban used to build local support could shift very easily to Punjab which has a similar rural social structure to Swat.  Now Swat's tiny.  It's a small part of the North-West Frontier Province with just over a million people.  Punjab is massive and has a population of around 80 million. 

You have two parties that either can't or don't want to push back militarily and a military that in many ways helped create the Taliban.  I've not yet read a realistic or achievable idea for stabilising Pakistan far less for pushing the Taliban back a bit.

Yes, the implications have been worrying for a while now, with Taliban in safe havens in Pakistan and influencing people there, and therefor more able to work the same way on Afghan areas. I have read that Pakistani tribes have been looking at Iraqi Sunnis and  their ways used for opposing AQ and extremes in Iraq, to use for opposing the Taliban. No idea how widespread it is though.

[Sheilbh]

I believe the key difference is that the Taliban are able to take advantage of an almost feudal society in some parts of Pakistan.  I'll try and find the article.