Pakistan Combat Gains
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
As the president of Pakistan prepared for talks in Washington on Wednesday, the security forces here, under American pressure to show greater resolve in combating militants, claimed to have killed at least 35 Taliban fighters in hotly-contested areas of the country’s northwest.
Some of the reported clashes, which could not be independently confirmed because the area is closed to journalists, centered on parts of the Swat Valley, north of Islamabad, where black-turbaned Taliban fighters seized control of Mingora, the area’s largest city, on Sunday, renewing American concerns that militancy was spreading unchecked towards the capital.
The advances added to a sense of regional crisis. As American and NATO troops confront militants in Afghanistan, insurgents are displaying increasing self-confidence in neighboring — and nuclear-armed — Pakistan, undermining its role as a key American ally against the Taliban.
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Some of the reported clashes, which could not be independently confirmed because the area is closed to journalists, centered on parts of the Swat Valley, north of Islamabad, where black-turbaned Taliban fighters seized control of Mingora, the area’s largest city, on Sunday, renewing American concerns that militancy was spreading unchecked towards the capital.
The advances added to a sense of regional crisis. As American and NATO troops confront militants in Afghanistan, insurgents are displaying increasing self-confidence in neighboring — and nuclear-armed — Pakistan, undermining its role as a key American ally against the Taliban.
Read more
posted @ 8:33 PM,
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