Pakistan In Crisis - Taliban Takeover Threat Grows
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Pakistan In Crisis
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Taliban Takeover Threat Grows
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Special A-O Report Coverage
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Pakistan President Admits
Pakistan Fighting For Survival
Against Taliban Take-Over
Pakistan's new president admits that his nation is now in danger of being overthrown by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. President Zardari admitted to CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" program that the Taliban has engulfed much of his country.
Zardari admitted that his government has underestimated the Taliban threat and his nation now is in a battle for survival. The Pakistani President admits that the Taliban's power continues to grow despite efforts by his government and the US to stop such growth.
The Taliban's strength is now so strong that has virtually cut-off the USA's supply route by land from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
"[The Taliban] do have a presence in huge amounts of land in our side. Yes, that is the fact," says Zardari. Once confined to the county's border area with Afghanistan, where they carried out strikes against U.S. troops over the border, the Taliban have extended their influence in Pakistan inland to cities like Peshawar and the Swat Valley.
Zardari says the Taliban have been taken for granted for a long time. "It's been happening over time and it's happened out of denial. Everybody was in denial. '…They're weak and they won't be able to take over…they won't be able to give us a challenge,'" he says many thought. "And our forces weren't increased…we have weaknesses and they are taking advantage of that weakness," Zardari tells Kroft.
Zardari is also battling public opinion in Pakistan. Most citizens believe the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda is America's war their government is fighting by proxy. Not so says Zardari. "We're not doing anybody a favor…We are aware of the fact it's… Taliban…trying to take over the state of Pakistan," he says. "So, we’re fighting for the survival of Pakistan. We’re not fighting for the survival of anybody else."
Some observers have questioned how much power Zardari really has and whether he has the full support of the military and the intelligence service. They are behind him he says. "If that wasn't the case, then Islamabad would have fallen because obviously if the army doesn't do its job, these men are not restricted. They've blown up the Marriott Hotel before. They’ve attacked us inland before. They would be all around us, wouldn't they?" he asks.
Zardari is determined to prevail; it's more than his duty, it's personal. "I lost my wife to it. My children's mother…It's important to stop them and make sure that it doesn't happen again and they don’t take over our way of life," he tells Kroft. "That's what they want to do." Much of the world has a stake in Zardari's struggle as well.
With Pakistan in possession of about 100 nuclear weapons, a Taliban takeover poses a frightening scenario. The Zaradri interview will be shown on the "60 Minutes" TV program on the CBS-TV network in America, Sunday night at 7pm Eastern Time.
For more details on the Pakistan-Taliban situation, from CBS-TV's website, LINK HERE. A second report from India's perspective, LINK HERE. A third perspective straight from a Pakistani newspaper. LINK HERE.
The A-O Insider Report (for A-O Donors) will provide further analysis of the Afghan-Pakistan situation in the "A-O Intelligence Digest" edition for February 15. LINK
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Pak Prez Says
Force Only Option Against Taliban
ISLAMABAD: The government has no alternative except to use force against the Taliban to end militancy in the country, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday while vowing to eliminate the insurgents.
He was addressing a meeting jointly presided over by the president and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to review the situation in FATA and Swat.
The president said the Taliban wanted to impose their political agenda on the people of Pakistan through use of force, adding that the government and the people would never allow a handful of insurgents to do so. Paying tribute to the bravery and patriotism of the members of law enforcement agencies, he said many of them had laid their lives on the line and many more had been injured in the line of duty. “They are our heroes,” he said.
ISI chief: During the meeting, sources said Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha gave a detailed briefing on the current situation in Swat and FATA and the ongoing efforts of law enforcement agencies to restore normalcy in the troubled areas.
The participants expressed satisfaction with the ongoing fight against the Taliban, and vowed to continue until the Taliban had been removed and the government’s writ had been restored.
Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the COAS called on the president at the Presidency and discussed various security concerns. They also discussed the Indian response to the Pakistani investigations and said Pakistan was committed to bringing anyone involved in the Mumbai attack to justice. -- LINK HERE.
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Taliban Spreads Into Heart of Pakistan
The bombing of a Shia mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan and an armed assault on a police checkpost in Mianwali by the Taliban [Images] in quick succession (February 5 and 7) could indicate the armed group's plans to expand its area of influence beyond Pakistan's North West Frontier Province into Punjab.
Although Punjab had had a series of suicide bombings since the July 2007 Lal Masjid operations, the latest attack on Mianwali, a small Pashtun town closer to the Frontier and a Pakistan Air Force base, assumes significance as it signals a change of tactics -- from suicide bombings to armed assaults -- by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan which had been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the Pakistan security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and NWFP for the past two years. The TTP, formed in December 2007, is an umbrella organisation of different Taliban groups operating in Pakistan.
These attacks also fit well with the Taliban threat to take its battle for supremacy into the heart of Pakistan, Punjab.
The Taliban and its allies have been preparing ground for the 'Talibanisation' of adjoining regions of Punjab for quite some time now. In August 2008, owners of cable networks and CD shops in Muzaffargarh (close to Multan which has been a stronghold of sectarian and terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images]) received threats warning them to close their businesses. Such is the fear of the Taliban reprisals that the beleaguered police simply refused to register a complaint.
In the adjoining town of Kot Addu, the Tehreek-e-Islami Taliban, a previously unknown group, warned women to wear the burqa and threatened them with acid attacks.
Given the brutal attack on women in Afghanistan, such threats were taken seriously. In October 2008 three bomb blasts rocked a juice shop in Lahore [Images] frequented by young couples. A month earlier a medical college in Multan had received threats demanding the end of co-ed training. In July 2008, local hoteliers in Attock were warned to stop alleged prostitution in their property, which severely affected tourism in the historic city.
By issuing such diktats, the Taliban not only intends to distract the security forces that have been fighting them with renewed vigour since the past six months, but also alter the pluralistic nature of Islam in Punjab and replace it with an extremist Wahhabi strand. More details, LINK HERE.
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US Missiles Kill Taliban in Pakistan
US missiles pounded a Taliban compound in a border region of Pakistan, close to the Afghan border. Late reports indicate 30 were killed with most thought to be Taliban militants or Al Qaeda fighters or both. More details, LINK HERE.
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BBC Reports:
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Pakistan In Fight For Survival
Against Taliban and AL Qaeda
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US Envoy Finds Discontent
In Pakistan
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Pakistan Wants US
To Talk With Moderate Talibanis
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