Liqaye Posted May 21, 2009 By Owen Bennett-Jones BBC News, Peshawar IDP's queue for food Support for the Taliban is fading as the conflict increasingly affects civilians In Pakistan there has been a real change in the past few months - the public has had enough of the Taliban and the army has gone to war. As a result well over one million people have been forced to flee their homes. I have come to a place about an hour's drive from Peshawar, 50 miles (80km) from where there has been intense fighting. There are many people on the move here who have run away from that fighting and they have brought with them eyewitness accounts of the brutal things they have seen under the Taliban's control of the Swat valley over the past few months. "They were beheading people, they were shooting innocent people without any warning, they were terrifying us," one woman tells me. "They were stopping our kids from going to school, they were kidnapping young boys." A man standing nearby is also eager to talk. "With my own hands I have buried 18 people who were beheaded, even children," he tells me grimly. "They are not friends, they are not our allies, they're our enemies, they are criminals, they are gangsters." New mood Such strong public criticism of the Taliban is new - the mood has changed in Pakistan. They say, 'eliminate them, clear up our area, for God's sake', that is the message that is coming from the local people Tariq Hyatt Khan, senior government official Tariq Hyatt Khan is the most senior government official in one of the tribal areas in North West Frontier Province and he tells me that the people of Pakistan have simply had enough of jihadis. "I know people from Swat, I've served in Malakand as a political agent," he explains. "The people hate them and if you see the letters to the editors of all the major newspapers, the people of Swat are writing and they are thanking the army for intervening in a decisive manner. "They say 'eliminate them, clear up our area, for God's sake', that is the message that is coming from the local people." In the garrison city of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, the Taliban have been launching attacks. Their main target has been the police and hundreds have been killed. Malik Naveed Khan runs the police force in the province - his own brother was killed in a suicide attack. "They're being beheaded, they're being kidnapped, their families are being kidnapped. One of our superintendents of police, his brother has been kidnapped and he has been told to resign from the force. "We are facing this war, but for every victory there have to be sacrifices," he says with little emotion. If the sixth biggest military cannot take care of 15 or 16 individuals, then I'm sorry, we're not good at it Khalid Aziz, ex-chief secretary, North West Frontier Province He shows me a Taliban propaganda DVD - it contains the most disgusting images I have ever seen, including the beheading of a policeman, standing head-hooded, decapitated with a single blow of the sword. But who are the Taliban? It is one word for a complicated and disparate movement. Khalid Aziz, former chief secretary of North West Frontier Province, says the answer is to start at the top. "We must separate it, we must identify the leadership," he says. "If you look at it, how many people would be involved in the top leadership - 15 or 20. If the sixth biggest military cannot take care of 15 or 16 individuals, then I'm sorry, we're not good at it. "If we have not contained it and it goes to Lahore and the rest of the area, we will lose the country," he warns. In the balance His fears are real - the jihadis have already killed in Lahore and suicide bombers have launched three attacks from the city so far this year. And then there was the brazen attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. Police officer helps a wounded colleague Police officers are increasingly being targeted by the Taliban But is it possible, in return, to directly target the Taliban leadership? Gen Tarik Khan has led the military's fight against the Taliban for the past three or four years in Pakistan. He has a ferocious reputation, but says there are limits to what he can do. "Any kind of military operation that seeks to take out individuals is an intelligence-driven operation that requires a lot of technology, a lot of surveillance capacity, which we don't have. "I have boots on the ground and troops that I can organise to go against organised resistance and cohesive militancy, but I can't really go after individuals," he says. When American politicians hear statements like that they begin to get rather irritated. Washington, they point out, has spent a very large amount of money in Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks. Sen Bob Menendez, like many others have been asking questions. In a recent congressional hearing he demanded to know where the military aid America had already given Pakistan had gone. "How come the general spearheading the fight still doesn't have the equipment that he needs? We don't even know where significant amounts of this money went to. That's $12bn later." Pakistan is a very different place compared to three months ago. People now say they have simply had enough. Nevertheless, the army has left it late to confront its enemy, too late maybe to think that victory can be won by just targeting the top leadership. The militants are well equipped and well trained. This is a conflict that could go on for years. Owen Bennett-Jones will be broadcasting from Pakistan for the BBC World Service's Newshour programme from 25 to 27 May at 1300BST and 1400BST. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Che -Guevara Posted May 21, 2009 The war with Taliban is not winable for simple reasons. The Pakistani army is not equipped to fight an insurgency-its entire existence is predicated on the threat coming from the east.The terrain shall the army decides to launch an all out war is not conducive to conventional war. It is mountainous areas with a lot of hills and valleys-prefect hideaway for any insurgency. The Taliban also has local supporters and fighters who have intimate knowledge of the land-much more than the Pakistani army. They also know the politics of these regions and would coopted any potential distractors. It's worthy mentioning leadership in the tribal has mostly been replaced by young fervent leadership who took over the land and the leadership.They are almost worlord like characters running some parts of the region. There's the problem with itself who have no stomach fighting what it believes to be America's war. The army has also with of Taliban sympathisers. And there's the issue of the Pashtun tribes who make-up a signficant number of the army. Any campaign by the army must be sensative to its members that are of Pushtun origin. Con't, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ADNAAN Posted May 21, 2009 As che said this war is not winnable but pleasing uncle tom is costing the Pakis very dearly. The repercussionsof this war might even lead to the destabilisation of this country of almost 200 mln. Swat valley could be worst refugee crisis since Rwanda, UN warns Almost 1.5 million people have registered for assistance since fighting erupted three weeks ago, the UNHCR said, bringing the total number of war displaced in North West Frontier province to more than 2 million, not including 300,000 the provincial government believes have not registered. "It's been a long time since there has been a displacement this big," the UNHCR's spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva, trying to recall the last time so many people had been uprooted so quickly. "It could go back to Rwanda." The army reported fierce clashes across Swat, a tourist haven turned Taliban stronghold. After a week of intense aerial bombardment with fighter jets and helicopter gunships the army has launched a ground offensive to drive out the militants to rout the militants from the valley. Commandos pushed through the remote Piochar valley, seizing a training centre and killing a dozen Taliban, a military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said ---> guardin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
