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Swat Taliban Seeks Foreign Help

ISLAMABAD – With the security forces making big gains on the grounds and seizing controls of more strongholds, the local Taliban group in restive Swat is reaching out for Uzbek and Tajik militants operating from North and South Waziristan for help.

“We have traced conversation between Taliban commanders in which the commander of Swat Taliban is appealing to his counterpart in Waziristan to send Uzbek and Tajik fighters as army is rapidly gaining grounds in traditional strongholds of Taliban in Swat,” a senior intelligence official told IslamOnline.net, wishing not to be named. The military said Tuesday its troops were locked in fierce street battles with Taliban in Matta and Kanju, with four soldiers and 14 militants killed in the two towns.

Footage broadcast by the private Geo channel showed soldiers standing outside locked shops in Matta, a bastion of Maulana Fazlullah, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Swat (TTS) leader.

The army said its troops, estimated at 15,000, were advancing on several fronts towards Mingora, the capital of Swat and a stronghold of Taliban.
The intelligence official claimed the help appeal was made by Ibn-e-Aqeel, the operational commander of Swat Taliban.

“(In conversation), Ibn-e-Aqeel admitted that the militants have conceded severe losses at the hands of security forces and have gone on defensive position,” he said.

Ibn-e-Aqeel is one of six main Taliban commanders, including Fazlullah, who are the prime targets of security forces.

“Our experts are engaged in decoding the rest part of the conversation,” he said, pointing out it was in Pushtu and in code words.

The declared goal of the blistering offensive, now bogged down into a fourth week, is to “eliminate” some 4,000 well-armed militants in Swat.

Unconfirmed

The intelligence official did not elaborate on whether the foreign fighters had agreed to join the fighting in Swat. “We cannot say with authority at the moment that if these foreign militants will join Taliban fighting in Swat, but we are fully prepared,” he said.

“Additional troops have been sent to the bordering areas of South and North Waziristan to tackle the foreign militants if they try to move towards Swat.”

According to intelligence and local sources, there are 2500 to 3000 foreign militants, mostly from Central Asian origin, hiding in South and North Waziristan. The government claims that there numbers are between 6000 and 7000.

The foreign fighters are largely concentrated in Mir Ali town, located some 35 Kilometers of Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan.

Those led by Uzbek commander Tahir Yuldoshev have been operating under Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's most wanted man and leader of Tehrik-e-Talibgan Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of various Taliban groups in the northern tribal belt.

Some foreign militants are reportedly controlled by Aymen Al-Zuwahiri, Al Qaeda’s second-in-command. Muslim Khan, a senior Taliban commander and spokesman of the TTS, could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts by IOL.

But Birjees Khan, who pretends to be a Taliban commander, claimed Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen militants will be activated against army soon.

“We will go all out against the army. And for that, we will exploit all possible mans, including Tajik, Uzbek, Chechen and Arab Mujahddin,” he told IOL via satellite phone from an unknown location. “They will soon be with us.”

Birjees denied Taliban fighters were on back foot. “It was our strategy not to go too offensive, but now we will adopt an offensive strategy.”

Dangerous

Security experts describe foreign militants, especially Tajiks and Uzbeks, as much more trained than local Taliban fighters.

They note that their intervention in the ongoing conflict may afflict heavy losses on the security forces. “Of course, they are much better fighter and would certainly add to the troubles of the security forces,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on Afghan affairs, told IOL.

“They can really make a difference, that’s why Swat Taliban are seeking their help.” He, however, thinks that foreign fighters would not join the war.

“There is the least possibility for that because according to my information they have been advised by top Al-Qaeda leadership to stay away from that,” Yusufzai said.

“I am not ruling out the possibility, because this is a very murky game, and anything can happen anytime. But I have concrete information that neither Al Qaeda leadership nor Mullah Omer want them to jump into the fray.”

Intelligence sources believe that foreign militants cannot move to Swat until and unless Mehsud orders them.

Sources close to Baitullah Mehsud say he has not issued any orders to either his local loyalists or foreign militants to join the Swat war.

Yusufzai, however, believes that if security forces open a new front in Waziristan then things will change.

“Mehsud is so far quite and has no plans to join Swat Taliban but as President Zardari has said that Waziristan is the next front and if it really happens, then Mehsud will have only one option, and that is to join hands with Fazlullah.”

http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2009-05/20/index.shtml