News Sophisticate: Pakistan readies herself for 'all out war' on the Taleban and Al Qaeda

Friday, October 19, 2007

Pakistan readies herself for 'all out war' on the Taleban and Al Qaeda

Bhutto is back, the bombs have gone off, and now the military is planning on 'waging all out war' 'once and for all', yet Musharraf rests quietly.

September was wretched for Democracy in Pakistan. Crippled by a President/General vying for power against the Supreme Court and the MAJORITY of the populace, Pakistan has been in revolt all summer. Multiple lawyers riots, Marshall law, the re exiling of a former Prime Minister, subversive talks with another, locking up of opposition leaders..to declaring his false election results legitimate..Pakistan has seen it all. That was until October arrived.

October is bringing the war of all wars to the mountainous tribal regions of Waziristan. Musharraf is promising to end the Taliban and Al Qaeda presence by 'pacifying' seven local towns and creating military bases in their wake.

According to a top Pakistani security official who spoke to the Asia Times Online, the deadline is up. The ultimatum has seized and if Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are in the hills...they're going to get hit. Here are a few excerpts

the goal this time is to pacify the Waziristans once and for all. All previous military operations - usually spurred by intelligence provided by the Western coalition - have had limited objectives, aimed at specific bases or sanctuaries or blocking the cross-border movement of guerrillas. Now the military is going for broke to break the back of the Taliban and a-Qaeda in Pakistan and reclaim the entire area
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"All previous operations had a different perspective in the past Pakistan commenced an operation when the Western coalition informed Pakistan about any particular hide-out or a sanctuary, or Pakistan traced any armed infiltration from or into Pakistan."

"However, the present battle aims to pacify Waziristan once and for all. The Pakistani Army has sent a clear message to the militants that Pakistan would deploy its forces in the towns of Mir Ali, Miranshah, Dand-i-Darpa Kheil, Shawal, Razmak, Magaroti, Kalosha, Angor Ada. The Pakistani Army is aiming to establish permanent bases which would be manned by thousands of military and paramilitary troops."

...an ultimatum had been delivered to the militants recently during a temporary ceasefire. The army would set a deadline and give safe passage into Afghanistan to all al-Qaeda members and Taliban commanders who had gathered in Waziristan to launch a large-scale post-Ramadan operation in Afghanistan. They, along with wanted tribal warrior leaders, would all leave Pakistan, and never return.

So basically...The Pakistani military set a deadline...the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden included MUST get out and 'leave safely' into Afghanistan. Hmmm. One would think that the U.S. military would be right there on the other side of the border to collect up these "high value targets", right? Nope.

The Taleban and Al Qaeda rejected the bargain and told the Musharraf regime to go...well...screw themselves. Now comes the fight.... Read this crazy hype from intelligence sources...

....during Ramadan, the Taliban's entire top command Abdul , including MoulviKabeer, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Nasiruddin Haqqani, and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah were in North Waziristan to launch a post-Ramadan offensive in southeast Afghanistan.

There is also a Kurd presence in the area, which has a direct bearing on the U.S. Iraqi occupation. A small number of fresh Kurd recruits come through Iran into Waziristan, get few months' training, and then return to Iran before infiltrating Iraq to fuel insurgency in Iraqi Kurdistan against this important US ally.
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"If the planned battle is successful and Waziristan is pacified, the global Islamic resistance would be back where it was in 2003
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A qualified estimate by intelligence officials is that Pakistani military pacification of the Waziristans would slash the capability of the Afghan resistance by 85% as well as deliver a serious setback to the Iraqi resistance.