Posted on 02/11/2006 10:26:32 AM PST by SevenMinusOne
Movement controls areas out of Pakistani government's reach -
February 9, 2006
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Four years after the United States led the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a new Taliban movement has taken control in a swath of neighboring Pakistan.
Taliban militants control much of Waziristan, a rocky, mountainous area twice the size of Long Island along the Pakistani border. Despite a heavy presence of Pakistani troops, Waziristan has become the largest and most protected sanctuary for Islamic militant guerrillas in the Afghan-Pakistani theater of the "global war on terror."
U.S. military officers and Afghan officials in three neighboring provinces of Afghanistan say the infiltration of guerrillas from Waziristan has continued unabated and is the primary engine of the continued Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Waziristan "is very important to the Taliban" as a base of operations in the Afghan-Pakistani theater, said Mike Scheuer, a former top analyst at the CIA.
And it is likely to stay that way for years, analysts say. "The strength of the militants in Waziristan has built up over a generation,"
While Waziristan's militants use the label "Taliban" and include figures from the former Afghan regime, their exact relationship with the Afghan movement is unclear. Some have voiced fealty to the Afghan Taliban chief, Mullah Omar, but observers such as ex-CIA officer Milt Bearden say it is unclear whether he directs them.
Beginning in late 2003, Pakistan sent an estimated 70,000 troops into its Afghan borderlands, especially Waziristan, in a campaign against Islamic militant fighters. The result, by all accounts except that of Pakistan's government, has been disastrous.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I find it amazing that so many Westerners just don't get it. These people are hard core, interrelated, uneducated mountain people. They have loyalties to tribes and sheiks...all of which can change at a moments notice. They are the equivalent of what westerners would call "indians", but with AK's, rocket launchers and money from radical islam regimes.
It reminds me of a conversation I had with a Bedouin honcho, years ago in Egypt. He said...paraphrasing..."We have lived in these deserts for thousands of years, we'll be here long after your civilizations turn to dust".
Frankly, I believe he was right.....
Thanks for the post.
There are more than seven million Pashtuns living in the Pakistan. All of them are Muslims. More than half live in or on the fringes of the Indus plain. These constitute the "settled districts" of Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Dir and Hazara. The other three million or so Pushto-speakers inhabit tribal territory in the hills and mountains to the north and west of the Indus. The political agencies from south to north are South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur. Further north and east, and with only a minority Pathan population is the Gilgit Agency, of which Hunza, Nagar and Baltistan are parts, now called the Northern Areas.
The Pushto speaking area begins at the western end of the Himalayas. On the other side of Durand Line are Afghanistan's Pashtuns, perhaps five million in number.
The Pathan tribal structure is far more complex than the mere division of their residences into tribal territory and settled districts would indicate. All Pashtuns belong to one of the three great branches of the race. Each branch, the Sarbani, the Bhitanni (with Ghilzai as its descendant) and the Ghurghushti, traces its descent from a son of their common ancestor, Qais. Each branch has dozens of tribes; to name only a few of the best known, the Shinwari and the Yusufzai are Sarbanis, the great semi-nomad sects of Sulaiman Khel and Aka Khel are Ghilzai, and the Afridis and Wazirs are Ghurghushti. All of the tribes named have members in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan.
The tribal system of the Pashtuns is complex. Each tribe has several khels, or clans; the khels break up into extended family systems of varying degrees of magnitude. Some of these subdivisions are also known as khels while some are called kors or kahols. However, an individual khel may have lost all connection with its parent tribe and may be larger than other tribes which have several khels, and two unconnected groups may have the same name. There is a Sepah clan among both the Afridis and Shinwaris, and Usman Khel among both Mohmands and Mahsud.
Despite the awareness of all Pashtuns of their common religion, language and history, customs, dress, and even physical appearance may vary from family to family, khel to khel and tribe to tribe.
Bombs Away !!!
Nice links, thank you.
Taliban militants control much of Waziristan, a rocky, mountainous area twice the size of Long Island along the Pakistani border. Despite a heavy presence of Pakistani troops, Waziristan has become the largest and most protected sanctuary for Islamic militant guerrillas in the Afghan-Pakistani theater of the "global war on terror."
Sometimes you have to "break alot of Eggs to Make a Cake"
A "carpet of daisys" across the Countryside.! Just in time for Spring!!!
The question FRiend is where, what and who do you bomb? You going to bomb the mountains into dust?......don't think so.
Bring a crap load of daisy cutters friend.....
In this mountainous tract live 25,07,000 sturdy, well-built and self-reliant Pathans who prefer to be called Pukhtoons.
We've had five years to recruit and train our own Pashtun-fluent pseudo-gangs.
To see the right moment and to seize it, to balance the profit and loss, counting one's own life as a feather in the scales, to strike hard and bold whatever the odds,—such are a few simple soldier lessons
I twice had the opportunity to "dine" with Bedouins (different I know, but hardcore never the less). I first attended a Bedouin court (where my friend, an Egyptian Colonel, told me to just be myself.....i.e shut up and smile), all the elders were there, the subject was a man caught steeling fish from the Colonel's fish farm. After the leading of the prayer and much deliberation, the man was told to work, for free for a period of one year, on the colonels fish farm. In addition, because his family was destitute, he was allowed to take a kilo of fish home, each day.
The other experience I had with Bedouins was when I was invited by a Belgium water drilling engineer to a "party". He was responsible for drilling new water wells in the driest parts of Egypt, this one was way the hell out in the middle of the Sinai, and from what I understand, about as close to civilization as this tribe got. This was a "real" party....I brought Vodka and he brought Belgium beer, and lots of it. After a huge dinner (no alcohol) we were invited to a more "private" location, the alcohol (ours) flowed, the dancing girls (right out of Ben Hur) came out and we proceeded to get blasted. My Belgium friend ended up with a dancers face veil, made out of coins...very, very old coins (he was the guest of honor) and some how I went home with one of the lesser sheiks kafia and head gear. I respect those people immensely.
Waziristan has become the largest and most protected sanctuary for Islamic militant guerrillas in the Afghan-Pakistani theater of the "global war on terror."
Take them out now so we don't have to face them later.
Their favorite sport is shooting at outsiders. If there are no outsiders, they fall back on shooting at each other.
In that regard, it is very difficult to discern violence begat by the presence of the Taliban from the normal background violence present without outsiders.
Bringing more Afghan Army units online is always helpful but in reality they are a long way off from being at all effective (accountable) on their own.
Increasing the number of NATO forces (as is currently happening) is a move in the right direction -
Continuing to aggressively attack sites within the Pakistan border region where we find Pukhtoons harboring or directly supporting Taliban / al Qeade is also sound policy / warfare - IMO -
Having Musharraff put his more accountable / loyal forces into Waziristan (along with in the NWFP) is also key.
Having more hunter / killer teams (Black if need be) into these areas is also needed in larger numbers. While at the same time as we are trying to influence the hearts and minds of people within these regions....we have to also make sure they know their is a stiff and ugly price to pay if they cross us / work directly with our enemies.
Making them pay this price needs to be escalated in my opinion.
Granted conducting operations in this region of the world is incredibly difficult and their is certainly large risks associated with any of our forces running such Ops. Bombing this region is not effective (outside of pinpoint locations.....of which we should be doing more).
Time to defoliate the victory garden.
In other words...the Klingons
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