Posted on 04/22/2009 10:41:01 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have moved into another district in a bid to broaden their control despite a deal designed to end extremist violence, officials said Wednesday.
Hundreds of armed Taliban from the scenic northwestern valley have entered Buner district, only 110 kilometres (68 miles) from the capital Islamabad.
The militants have set up checkpoints, occupied mosques and ransacked the offices of non-governmental organisations, a local official said.
A Taliban commander said they would set up strict Islamic sharia courts in Buner as they have already done in Swat but would not interfere with police work.
Indications of a spread of Taliban activism has fuelled criticism of an accord agreed by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month to allow sharia courts in Swat, which the United States said amounted to capitulation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday Taliban advances posed "an existential threat" to Pakistan and urged Pakistanis worldwide to oppose the deal.
Pakistanis "need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the insurgents," Clinton said, underscoring "the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing (Taliban) advances, now within hours of Islamabad".
US President Barack Obama is to welcome Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in early May, an administration official said Wednesday.
Obama is to meet with the neighboring leaders separately and then the three will take part in a summit May 6 and 7, the Washington Post reported.
Pakistan's central government lost control in Swat, a former ski resort and jewel in the crown of Pakistani tourism, after a violent two-year militant campaign to enforce strict sharia law.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Pakistani Taliban, seen here in Tarran in the northwestern Swat valley in 2008. Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have moved into another district in a bid to broaden their control despite a deal designed to end extremist violence, officials said Wednesday. (AFP/File/Chand Khan)
Gee, the Taliban aren’t following an “agreement” with their weak kneed gov’t? Where is Mushariff when you need him?
email I received...
the Taliban are 60 miles from Islamabad, the federal capital of
Pakistan. This week they poured into yet another province unopposed; the
police surrendered and government offices were empty.
The Taliban are in the vicinity of multiple nuclear silos and reactors. When
I mean ‘in the vicinity’, I mean within driving distance.
America’s last bet before war is, drive a wedge between the Pakistan Taliban
and the tribal militias allied with the Pakistan Taliban. Even so, it’s
probably too late for a peaceful solution. The Taliban also control 70% of
Afghanistan, which is the pre-9/11 level.
We’re going to war in Pakistan.
I’m sure there are already bond and equities
traders prepping themselves for a rally on Pak-war news. They’re going to be in for a nasty surprise when it goes nuclear.
Appeasement works! SEE? :-}
When does ZERO start bombing?
It’s been a few days since we popped a HeLLFiRe off .. Good question.
How does this end without U.S. troops getting involved?
This is almost too scary to think about.
He’ll never drop a bomb,
First, he has to take a trip with a contingent of 500 people on a road trip. After he does his perfunctory submission bow, issue an appology for the existance of the USA, he’ll grin, give them a handshake, pose for the cameras, and issue promises of friendship and money. Then he’ll ajourn to a more private setting for the boot-licking.
We can all be so proud of our Obamessiah.
All the highly enriched uranium is under a lock and key that we have control over. There are six different locations for all the componenets, no problems there.
The government caved into allowing Sharia in all of Malakand, of which Buner is one district out of twelve. The Taliban see themselves as the "agents of change" and will likely extend control to the remaining 4 districts within a year at the most.
The Taliban have not disarmed as agreed (never was a chance of that) and won't now accept the right of Paki's to appeal Sharia decisions to conventional Paki courts.
We have been training the largely Pahktun Frontier Corps for about a year. Our thinking was that locals could overcome locals. Didn't happen, at best the FC won't fight and won't give intel freely. However the FC has been very effective in recruiting Pahktuns to inform (for money) on the Taliban.
We've bumped up the UAV missions to nearly 400 per day in the Afpak theater and are jamming all Taliban radio, monitoring cell phones, etc. We control the air waves. We need forward air bases to extend UAV patrol areas farther north and east.
We also need to secure our supply routes into Pakistan. Look for overland routes, by rail through Iran and Tajikistan via Russia. The Canadians are already shipping by rail through Iran.
The fundamental and most critical issue is ending the heroin trade. Nothing else even comes close. We have to take the eradication program over from the Afghanis, they are too incompetant and corrupt. Karzai needs to be marginalized, period.
Pakistan has broken up into the following fiefdoms: Army, ISI, Punjabi government run by Taseer, Sharif/Chaudry and the lawyers, and the Zardar/Bhutto feudal ruling class of Punjab and Sindh that controls the agriculture and banking.
Eventually the central government will become so weak that Balochistan will openly revolt and the Taliban will attack freely all over Pakistan. I give elected government one year at the most, partition creating a Taliban led Pahktunistan after that.
Direct military attacks by us and NATO in Pahktunistan after that. Boots on the ground.
I cannot over-emphasize the critical problem of ending the drug trade that finances the Taliban.
India must be provoked into attacking. Hopefully the CIA is working it. Next we need to foment a Shia/Sunni war.
Then just sit back and watch.
Thanks again for your comments, most appreciated.
Pakistani activists protest against the Taliban in Karachi on April 17, 2009.
Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have moved into another district
in a bid to broaden their control despite a deal designed to end
extremist violence, officials said Wednesday.
(AFP/File/Rizwan Tabassum)
"In a 1998 interview with the French news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Brzezinski recalled: "We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would... That secret operation [Cyclone] was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap... The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, "We now have the opportunity of giving to the Soviet Union its Vietnam War."[4][5]"[snip]"Hekmatyar was said to be friendly with Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, who was running an operation for assisting "Afghan Arab" volunteers fighting in Afghanistan, called Maktab al-Khadamat. Alarmed by his behavior, Pakistan leader General Zia warned Hekmatyar, "It was Pakistan that made him an Afghan leader and it is Pakistan who can equally destroy him if he continues to misbehave."[19]
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