The long and the short of it (Exodus from Swat Region)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Comment, Daily Times, Pakistan
May 13, 2009
It should be repeated constantly that refugees are coming out of Swat by the many thousands not because the army has gone back to the attack, but because the Taliban have reneged on every aspect of the peace deal and have brought bloodshed and misery
Suddenly, like a Kansas tornado, the Pakistan Army and government have reversed direction and are pushing back — and if the excited media coverage is to be believed — pushing back hard against Pakistan’s existential enemies. The Taliban are on the run, it is said, in Buner, on the defensive in Swat, and nervous, it is hoped, about their ability to hold on to their other gains.
However, I wonder if they, or their extremist allies, those jihadi groups which also provide foot soldiers for attacking the Pakistani state, as well as their ideological mentor, Al Qaeda, are breathing fearfully these days. Are they feeling endangered by this sudden shift in Pakistan’s policy and strategy? Do they think it possible that their encroachment on the writ of the Pakistani state has reached its apex and is about to become much more costly to sustain?
Or, do they take the view that this is just another spike in the army’s sporadic campaign against them, brought on by public anger over Taliban overreach and overconfidence that will peter out as all the previous army campaigns against them have.
Read more
May 13, 2009
It should be repeated constantly that refugees are coming out of Swat by the many thousands not because the army has gone back to the attack, but because the Taliban have reneged on every aspect of the peace deal and have brought bloodshed and misery
Suddenly, like a Kansas tornado, the Pakistan Army and government have reversed direction and are pushing back — and if the excited media coverage is to be believed — pushing back hard against Pakistan’s existential enemies. The Taliban are on the run, it is said, in Buner, on the defensive in Swat, and nervous, it is hoped, about their ability to hold on to their other gains.
However, I wonder if they, or their extremist allies, those jihadi groups which also provide foot soldiers for attacking the Pakistani state, as well as their ideological mentor, Al Qaeda, are breathing fearfully these days. Are they feeling endangered by this sudden shift in Pakistan’s policy and strategy? Do they think it possible that their encroachment on the writ of the Pakistani state has reached its apex and is about to become much more costly to sustain?
Or, do they take the view that this is just another spike in the army’s sporadic campaign against them, brought on by public anger over Taliban overreach and overconfidence that will peter out as all the previous army campaigns against them have.
Read more
Labels: Army Operation, IDPs, Pakistan, Swat, Taliban, Terrorism
posted @ 12:58 PM,
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