An informative article on what is happening right now in this troubled region. The Taliban, or neo-Taliban are beginning to join with al-qaeda and are trying to choke the NATO forces out by destroying the supply route.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL09Df01.html">Militants strike as Pakistan cracks down
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Pakistan is taking action against the banned militant group Laskhar-e-Taiba (LET), which has been linked to the attacks in Mumbai in India last month in which nearly 200 people died.
(snip)
The crackdown on the LET is the result of pressure from Washington following the Mumbai attacks that Islamabad abandon its support for militancy.
However, this does not mean the end of militancy - the move will simply pass the LET-Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) nexus to the al-Qaeda network in South Asia.Asia Times Online has learned that the public faces of the Jamaatut Dawa, such as its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, will be spared.
But people such as Zakiur Rahman, the commander-in-chief of the LET, are marked men for interrogation by a joint US Federal Bureau of Investigation-ISI team for their alleged role in the Mumbai attack.
A senior member of the LET confirmed to Asia Times Online that there had been a raid on one of the Jamaatut Dawa's offices, and warned that if Zakiur Rahman was grilled, it would be tantamount to civil war in Pakistan."So far the province of Punjab
has been spared from all sorts of violence, but if such action is carried out, Punjab will also burn in violence," he said.
The latest move might go some way to appeasing the US, but militancy cannot be easily stamped out - it has a habit of re-inventing itself.
(snip)
The latest action against the LET, once again taken under American pressure, will simply shift the LET fighters in al-Qaeda's structures in South Asia.
This transition is happening at a time when Pakistan is weakening with the passing of every day. Al-Qaeda and the neo-Taliban - Pakistani militants who have accepted al-Qaeda's ideology - are waiting for the elimination of all political boundaries so they can operate at will.
(snip)
For the first time since the Taliban started attacking NATO supplies this year, there are visible signs of some success in effectively depriving NATO of vital reinforcements.
Over 70% to 80% of NATO's supplies pass through NWFP on the way to Kabul in Afghanistan, with the remainder going through Pakistan's Balochistan province to Kanadahar across the border. A very small proportion of supplies goes by air to the land-locked country.
Dr Farrukh Saleem, the executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan and a renowned strategic writer, told Asia Times Online, "The Soviets' defeat in the Afghan war was primarily due to the cutting off of its supply lines. The mujahideen focussed on choking the supply routes from Central Asia into northern Afghanistan. At present, there is one US combat US brigade in Afghanistan . This December, another combat brigade will arrive, while two more combat brigades will arrive next year. Therefore, more supplies will be needed. If, at this juncture, the militants cut off the supply lines, it will be devastating for NATO forces in Afghanistan."
(snip)
There are estimates within militant camps that if they succeed in severing NATO supplies from Pakistan this year, NATO will have to leave Afghanistan in 2009.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
