Taliban Terrorizes Its Way Across Pakistan

Militants Expand Their Power Into Mountainous Region Far From Traditional Strongholds

(AP)  Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al Qaeda and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.

"You can't imagine how bad it is," said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. "It's worse day by day."

The Taliban activity in northwest Pakistan also comes as the country shifts forces east to the Indian border because of tensions over last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, potentially giving insurgents more space to maneuver along the Afghan frontier.

Militants began preying on Swat's lush mountain ranges about two years ago, and it is now too dangerous for foreign and Pakistani journalists to visit. Interviews with residents, lawmakers and officials who have fled the region paint a dire picture.

A suicide blast killed 40 people Sunday at a polling station in Buner, an area bordering Swat that had been relatively peaceful. The attack underscored fears that even so-called "settled" regions presumptively under government control are increasingly unsafe.

The 3,500-square-mile Swat Valley lies less than 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

A senior government official said he feared there could be a spillover effect if the government lost control of Swat and allowed the insurgency to infect other areas. Like nearly everyone interviewed, the official requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by militants.

Officials estimate that up to a third of Swat's 1.5 million people have left the area. Salah-ud-Din, who oversees relief efforts in Swat for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 80 percent of the valley is now under Taliban control.

Swat's militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law. His appeal tapped into widespread frustration with the area's inefficient judicial system.

Most of the insurgents are easy to spot with long hair, beards, rifles, camouflage vests and running shoes. They number at most 2,000, according to people who were interviewed.

In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas.

They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls' schools.

In mid-December, Taliban fighters killed a young member of a Sufi-influenced Muslim group who had tried to raise a militia against them. The militants later dug up Pir Samiullah's corpse and hung it for two days in a village square - partly to prove to his followers that he was not a superhuman saint, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

A lawmaker and the senior Swat government official said business and landowners had been told to give two-thirds of their income to the militants. Some local media reported last week that the militants have pronounced a ban on female education effective in mid-January.

Several people interviewed said the regional government made a mistake in May when it struck a peace deal with the militants. The agreement fell apart within two months but let the insurgents regroup.

The Swat insurgency also includes Afghan and other fighters from outside the valley, security officials said.

Any movement of Pakistani troops from the Swat Valley and tribal areas to the Indian border will concern the United States and other Western countries, which want Pakistan to focus on the al Qaeda threat near Afghanistan.

On Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being shifted toward the border with India, which blames Pakistani militants for terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month that killed 164 people. But there has been no sign yet of a major buildup near India.

"The terrorists' aim in Mumbai was precisely this - to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east," said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region.

"The terrorists are not going to be sitting still. They are not going to be adhering to any sort of cease-fire while the army takes on the Indian threat. They are going to occupy the vacuum the army will create."

Residents and officials from the Swat Valley were critical of the army offensive there, saying troops appeared to be confined to their posts and often killed civilians when firing artillery at suspected militant targets.

The military has deployed some 100,000 troops through the northwest.

A government official familiar with security issues estimated that some 10,000 paramilitary and army troops had killed 300 to 400 militants in Swat since 2007, while about 130 troops were killed. Authorities have not released details of civilian casualties, and it was unclear if they were even being tallied.

The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, disputed assertions that militants had overrun the valley, but said a spotty supply line was hampering operations. He said the army had to man some Swat police stations because the police force there had been decimated by desertions and militant killings.

A Swat militant boasted that "we are doing our activities wherever we want, and the army is confined to their living places."

"They cannot move independently like us," said the man, who was reached over the phone and gave his name as Muzaffarul Haq. He claimed the Swat militants had no al Qaeda or foreign connections, but that they supported all groups that shared the goal of imposing Islamic law.

"With the grace of Allah, there is no dearth of funds, weapons or rations," he said. "Our women are providing cooked food for those who are struggling in Allah's path. Our children are getting prepared for jihad."

[nincomp]

Non-Muslims want Egypt as a model for all Islamic countries, where they own the government that does all the dirty work for them like suppressing the people and no opposition to them. Pakistan has proven to be difficult despite all the tries by West to be like egypt and it''s because of the will power of people. You can keep on calling this talibization or whatever your "analysts" tell you but this is the will of people that can''t be defeated.

[runningralph]

US Congressman Charles Wilson fostered the Taliban. The Taliban harbored bin Laden. Islamics around the world were jubilant and dancing after 9/11. Now the Taliban is terrorizing Pakistan. Do Charlie Wilson and bin Laden now wish they had kept their hands in ther own pockets? Are the Islamics still dancing? I don''t think so. The Islamics are true warriors. bin Laden said they love death. It''s not over ''til it''s over. On the other hand, Charlie Wilson fears death. It''s over for him.

[brianp55]

Remember that scene from "Tears of the Sun", when Bruce Willis and his team encircled the African village and just started silently blowing away the bad guys from a distance with sniper rifles? They never knew what him them.

[guadalcanal3]

Time for Pakistan to move it''s army into the Swat region and eradicate these A holes....India is no threat to Pakistan.

[arzooo-2009]

Pakistan is getting a taste of its own medicine. They sponsored and encouraged the Taliban regime and ideology in Afghanistan which has now spread across the border being forced there by the US and allied presence. The reason it is a problem is because the majority of Pakistanis do not subscribe to this ideology. It is really tragic to see the overwhelming majority of talented, law abiding people being held hostage by a small minority who have hijacked a religion to further their own failed ideology. If we learn from history, all it takes for evil to triumph is for the good men to sit back and do absolutely nothing. This is the time for Pakistan, as a nation, to take a stance and rid itself, and the world of terrorism. After all, there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

[arzooo-2009]

Pakistan is getting a taste of its own medicine. They sponsored and encouraged the Taliban regime and ideology in Afghanistan which has now spread across the border being forced there by the US and allied presence. The reason it is a problem is because the majority of Pakistanis do not subscribe to this ideology. It is really tragic to see the overwhelming majority of talented, law abiding people being held hostage by a small minority who have hijacked a religion to further their own failed ideology. If we learn from history, all it takes for evil to triumph is for the good men to sit back and do absolutely nothing. This is the time for Pakistan, as a nation, to take a stance and rid itself, and the world of terrorism. After all, there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

[mjlewis6]

The ratio of civilian deaths to military is about 10-15 to one for active military operations, so expect that for about 8,000 American Troop deaths, a loss ratio of at least 100,000 or in a more densely populated area of about 800,000 for any Pakistani accepted incursion of American Forces....

President Obama is to oversee the order of approximately 40,000 American troops transfered into Afganistan to prosecute the war to a conclusion. You can be sure it will be BLOODY and COSTLY and will be WORSE before the assessments come in. Politically, the Middle East will be host to a new Initiative to Create the State of Palestine next to Israel while the Taliban and Al Quaeda are pressed into an enclave in northern Pakistan to sue to end the conflict or be wiped out.

Unlike Bush promising "to end the conflict at a time and place of our choosing" September 14, 2001.....President Barack Hussein Obama will do the job BUSH refused to do and prosecute the war to a conclusion.

[goosfraba2]

In case you''re not inclined to read all the posts, read these excellent posts ...

CaribouBarbi at 12:56 AM : Dec 30, 2008

alphaa10000 at 01:50 AM : Dec 30, 2008

alphaa10000 at 02:02 AM : Dec 30, 2008

Puritan9 at 02:07 AM : Dec 30, 2008

alphaa10000 at 02:08 AM : Dec 30, 2008

alphaa10000 at 02:30 AM : Dec 30, 2008

antoniof123 at 08:58 AM : Dec 30, 2008

creeper00 at 11:27 AM : Dec 30, 2008

walt1944 at 11:44 AM : Dec 30, 2008

jbrown88881 at 12:22 PM : Dec 30, 2008

babooph at 01:18 PM : Dec 30, 2008

... and one stupid one.

Neo269 at 01:23 PM : Dec 30, 2008

[neo269]

This is the world that sick Liberal Hypocrisy has given us. It won''t be long before OBie cuts a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan and then Cuts-n-Runs from there too.

[babooph]

Seems like a miltary machine designed to knock down a modern techi army is not a natural police force-Poor USA- Bush could never learn.

[afmca]

This just goes to prove just how bad and corrupt the Pakistani military really is. They cannot even defeat an enemy that is great at killing innocent women and children, but flee like scared cockroaches when confronted with real fighting soldiers.

Maybe it would be best if the Taliban took over. We could then use the pretext of securing their nuclear weapons to wipe the Taliban and alQaeda off the face of the map once and for all. Once trapped in Pakistan they would have no place to run as they have enemies on all 4 borders. A day without islamic terrorists would truly be a sunny, wonderful day!

[walt1944-2009]

It has been learned that the Taliban operating in Pakistan are expanding their influence in THAT country as well as regaining Afghanistan.

It can be expected that the Taliban might take over Pakistan which would mean war with India. And with the US bogged down in Afghanistan, like Russia was in the 1980''s (we never learn from history!), it is obvious that the "terrrrrorists" which the once-Great Emperor Bush vowed to everyone he would destroy (Emperor Bush II was good at making promises he never kept!), are stronger than ever.

Such is the legacy of a idiot like the once-Great Emperor Bush II and the foreign policy of VP Darth Vader Cheney.

SIG HEIL, WHAT DO YOU MEAN "ONCE-GREAT"!!!, BUSH!!!

[jamster31]

test

[creeper00]

Tell me again, please, why we let Osama Bin Laden go free while we invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

Way to go, Bush. Worst president ever.

Oh, jamesm12341, I''ll give you the benefit of the doubt and figure you''re being picky. There is no song entitled "Bring In the Clowns" but there is one titled "SEND In the Clowns". It was written by Stephen Sondheim for his musical "A Little Night Music." The best-known performance was by Judy Collins, though Barbra Streisand did a good cover of it, too.

Paste this into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvzUdM29_uA

[liberalme]

I say--send in the "Answer Men" Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield!
They know how to "get er done"! Can''t think of a greater bunch of guys to "fix" Pakistan, and as they are heading to the war zone--we can all sing "bring in the clowns"!

[whatawebb]

The ***''s gave the Taliban a Home when they got chased out of Afghanistan - they deserve EVERYTHING they get!

[antoniof123]

If Bush the moron had just finished the job with the Taliban instead of diverting resources into stealing Iraq''''s oil, this disaster would not be happening.
Posted by CaribouBarbi at 12:56 AM : Dec 30, 2008

How true and you know what is funny the neocon party still says it has nothing to be sorry for.

But fine they were warned in 2006 to moderate or they would be moderated. They didn''t listen and lost control of both houses. They were warned again through 2007 and 2008 to moderate or they would be broken. They didn''t listen so we took the White House and even more congress seats away. Now they are being warned again moderate or die.

I wonder if they will listen.

[powmadeak47]

meanwhile, Dubya and Ocrapa are too busy worrying about a few lame rockets fired by Hamas to care about this.

[intheshade-2009]

Only the US army is allowed to Terroriz Its Way Across Pakistan.

[puritan9]

Why is it that anywhere there are Moslems there is no peace, no equality, no education, but intolerance of others, hate for non-moslems, and destruction? Given that Pakistan is the worst case scenario - a basket case devoid of a scintilla of intelligent thought, but even Saudi Arabia is not too far behind. Even the royal family has no guts to advance into the civilized world - they just eat camel meat and smoke hookas all day long while all the rich arabs transfer their monies to swiss bank accounts and buy land in america. So the money comes back to the west anyway. Once the oil is gone, then what? Convert to christainity. Only then will the moslem civilization advance.