The Pakistan Army is closing in on South Waziristan, the stalking ground of Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
In recent days, the military has been using airstrikes, artillery and blockades to attack suspected hide-outs and training camps in the tribal agency in an effort to weaken Mehsud’s position before launching a full-scale attack. The authorities also turned a blind eye to tribal infighting, in the hope that Mehsud’s rival Qari Zainuddin would compromise Mehsud’s strength and position, thereby facilitating a military attack.
Meanwhile, suspected US missile strikes have been targeting militant commanders stationed in the tribal agency.
What do you think the best strategy for toppling the Taliban leadership in South Waziristan is? Should the army launch a full-scale offensive, backed by US strikes? Or should the military encircle Taliban hide-outs in an effort to capture Mehsud and other militant commanders? How can the army prevent Taliban leaders from escaping into Afghanistan or regrouping in an adjacent tribal area? Can this final showdown between the army and militants succeed?
It is silly to make even suggestions that how Pak army should tackle these extremists. I have read nonsense in these comments that army should invite all the international help, someone else suggested the number of Pak army to be around 600,000 strong to fight these extremists. Are we joking that the Pak army which is holding India at our door step for all these years is incapable of this fight?
The most important thing is the policy decisions, once the decisions are right we have no doubt in our soldier’s capabalities.
No insurgency can be won through purely by use of force.In such like situations history teach us that after use of force job of Leadership starts.Civilian forces/intitutions come into play for development of that area or group of people.Seeing the past hitory we can easily conclude that this will not happen.As most of the civilian institutions have become joke therefore coupled with present LEADERSHIP nobody will come to help the people of FATA.Resultantly evil which will be supressed by the army, will again eroupt,requiring another operation.
The key message to all peace loving people of Pakistan should be to distinguish between the ‘jihaadees’ who struggle against the injustices and protect the umma and the ‘fisaadees’ who disregard law & order and spread death & destruction among the innocent muslims. I am sure the gov’t and the army of Pakistan is capable of highlighting this difference to the all people of Pakistan (regardless of ethnic or/& linguistic background) and the World.
Eliminate the leadership first and then it becomes easier to eliminate the rest.
The problem with the present strategy is that we are attacking thousands of foot soldiers and not their leaders who command them and once these commanders and leaders are wipe out; the bottom will fall automatically and easier to eliminate.
I believe tribals should be taken in to confidence and then they fight on the front line against miscreants — a militia — which would be fully backed by Army. But then, Army and Intelligence would also demonstrate a hands-on participation alongside the militia. I’ve seen this strategy working better since tribals are very well aware of the terrain rather than Army. A difference of 19/20 is even critically imperative in such maneuvering.
As has been said again and again that the area in question is very tough even for highly trained and experienced soldiers so in my opinion all the lifelines leading to South Waziristan that is all the communications system should be chocked,telecommunication systems should be jammed. No transport, incoming or outgoing should be allowed with a shoot a sight orders for any trespassers. Pamphlets should be dropped from the air asking the civilians to leave the area. Ask (for once)US and NATO help to cordon off the Afghan side of the area so that no escape route is left over. Ofcourse keep a vigilant eye from the air to monitor the movements of the terrorists and the results will be visible much sooner rather than later.
The Sarhad and Federal government should be prepared in advance to accomodate the people who eventually would want to and are able to leave the area. Each leaving person’s identity should be thoroughly verified to be sure no members of the terrorist group is trying to leave disguised as civilian and also, they should be accomodated in guarded camps away from the urban areas.
This is the only manner which will keep civilian deaths to the lowest while forcing the terrorists to expose themselves.
This is a question of will. Is the government and the military willing to take up the task or is this is just a showdown to make itself eligible for more international aid?
Simple – give an ultimatum of 3 days to the population to leave the area and put them in IDP camps. Cut off all supply routes to the area, both from east and from west by the help of NATO. Then smoke them and burn every inch of the land till no last man is standing. This is the ONLY way to get rid of this menace.
But parallel to this – the political government should deliver justice and governance to discourage the reflux of militants back into the areas.
Once the area has been cleared finish the special status of tribal areas. Make it a part of NWFP and apply the rule and law of Pakistan state in that area. To hell with the “traditions of ghayur qaum”.
I think we as civilians cannot advise the army as to what their “military strategy” should be.
I am confident that the military planners and commanders on ground have the knowledge and experience of conducting such campaigns.
All we should do is support them wholeheartedly and pray to Almighty that this operation is swift and surgical and results in lasting peace.
Army should take same step as they did in swat and malakand region. Our soldiers can fight very well on ground rather than these drone attacks done by US Army in which many innocent citizens are being killed
If pakistan army eliminate all the militants
and make this region very nice tourist place so that local people get way of living and gradually this region become really a heaven.
Under no circumstances should government go in for bombing. Bombs do not differentiate between terrorists and civilians. The notion of Pakistan air force bombarding its own civilians is really horrific. A ground operation with door to door searches is the way to go. Ideally it should have been the police who was doing it. But the police force has been allowed to be weakened to the point where that is not an option and army needs to be involved.
Is there a risk that Mehsud’s men may escape with a ground strategy? Of course. But that risk is there with arial bombing too. The purpose at this time is to clear these areas of the terrorists and give peace to the residents. Simultaneously build the police force (in terms of numbers, training, arms and equipment etc.).Also ISI’s focus should shift to focusing on protecting the country. Better intelligence and well armed police will prevent Taliban from regaining ascendancy immediately (unlike the past operations).
Then talks have to begin with the tribals to address their legitimate grievances. (This needs to happen in Balochistan as well). Simultaneously, attention needs to be paid to the terror infrastructure within Pakistan – the Wahabi madrasas, the education system that teaches that jihad is good, breeds hatred against ‘others’ who are different etc. Currently many terrorists groups are openly able to raise funding. There has to be focus on this aspect also.
This process is not going to happen in a month or even a year. It will at least take 5-10 years to get sustainable lasting peace. But this problem has not built up in a month or a year either. This problem has been building since Zia’s reign.
No matter whether the government decides to bomb or go door to door – it is not going to be the ‘final showdown’.The time for easy options and shortcuts is gone.
Army should launch a full scale offensive and root out the cancer of the T
Agree with the current approach. There should be no going back. Its a do or die situation for Pakistan.
Situation in Waziristan is very complex. Imagening that Army will succeed in eliminating the Taliban is too early to think. Yes Army can cause great damage to the set up by killing key leaders and destroying the training camps, but at what cost? Unless we have same legal systen in tribal areas as we have in rest of NWFP and setting up of infrastructure like you have in rest of Pakistan, no long lasting change can happen.
Even thinking that you can stop them from fleeing to Afghanistan is also no reallistic.
I also believe that international players dont want a stable peace in this area. See the heavy caches of weapon and ammunition, who brought them? None of these equipment is available in rest of Pakistan, definitely it came from Afghanistan.
You can stop them for few months or years but not permanently unless you bring permanent changes (especially of development) in the area.
It does not matter if the leadership of Taliban including Baitullah mehsud escape to Afghanistan. Pak Army should launch a large scale operation, and clean the area towards Pak Afghan border. Then after the operation, completely restrict the area of border and do not let any one enter into the Pakistan.
The best way is to get some good intel (making sure that the ISI, IB and other intelligence agencies are actually work for what they are being paid for) and then target assissation, maybe even giving him a taste of his own medicine
I think pakistan should rely on its own army, without having help from US [as they cant be trusted]. First priority should be to free the area from insurgents, don’t worry if some move to afghanistan and maintain the control in area. Gain the confidence of people, if people are with us we don’t need to worry.
The operation should be a full-scale offensive and backed by US strikes. The intelligence network should be on high level in and around south waziristan, the tribal lords who seems to be distant from the taliban are not actually so different in terms of philosophy/ approach from Taliban militants — this is the time to take them all seriously.
This is the only way to get rid of these militants in that area.
The sacrificies of Pakistan Army should be awarded in befitting manner. Catching Bait-ul-allah Mehsud alive is the best gift to Pakistan Army. So we are able to reach the real planners of all this devastation inflicted on Pakistani nation.
Pakistani Strategists have actually not done well on the political and ideological front. Militarily yes this operation seems to be going well but to find a permanent solution (as opposed to a solution that entails carrying on of guerilla warfare by the militants), we must fight them on the ideological front. I personally feel that we failed miserably in that regard before the start of this operation and we need to focus on this much more important aspect of the solution. It will bring peace and stop bloodshed. Might seem difficult to some, but I think it is really not all that complex.
Army has to take on Taliban from all fronts and ensure it does not repeat any past mistakes. It should no longer thrive on the idea of good Taliban or band Taliban because majority of the mistakes are made by the soft heart. Taliban has continuously misused the soft corners of the army and the public. The need to be completely eliminated, no more any peace agreement should allow them time to regroup. All Intelligence agencies need to be committed on this cause. Full scale attack with commitment to fight until Taliban is eliminated is definitely the best option. There will be lot of pressure, by public about collateral damage etc but army and government should be firm on their will to fight till they eliminate every bit of Taliban. Until there is a news about Taliban leaders being arrested or killed the operation will never have enough meaning, since as long as leaders are there Taliban can always come back.
1. Evacuate all civilian innocent citizens from the war zone first.
2. Send highly trained special forces supported by air attack to weaken their supply chain and cause maximum damage.
3. Once their backbone is broken, go for the final showdown.
The conflict, name calling and bloodshed between military and people of northern tribes have gone too far to a point of no return. Military may win a war but military and Government of Pakistan will never win the hearts of the people who have been uprooted from their homes, lands, and many of them have been killed, abused, mistreated all their lives since the creation of Pakistan. Tribal fighters were used to gain control over Kashmir at the time of creation of Pakistan. Pakistan military rulers and government created Taliban for fighting a war with Soviet Union on behalf of USA. Then these tribes were abandoned of any improvement of their economy and living. Now Pakistan military and government is fighting along with the USA against its own citizens who helped the USA as well as Pakistan.
Each province has grudges about fair treatment against each other and within. The country used to support the British Empire is now dependent and begging from others.
Thus, I feel the show down between Taliban and Pakistan/USA Military may succeed in military victory but the conflict will come back and appear in some or the other forms all over Pakistan and may spread to other countries.
Here we are fighting a nontraditional war in Swat or Waziristan. In such war intelligence plays a very important role. Our enemy is not an established organization, there are a handful people who are organizing these attacks, their soldiers are loyal to those few people or their head, if this head or these few leading militants are eliminated the whole set up will collapse. It is the job of intelligence and commandos who can eliminate these few people. On his recent visit to the US, former president Musharraf said in his TV interview that the basic mistake US did in Iraq war was to attack the whole nation, though the Iraqi people were against Suddam Husain. Continuing further he said the US should have eliminated Suddam Hussain using its unconventional force but what happened the whole nation was punished for no fault of theirs. I think same strategy we should follow in Swat and Waziristan, we should eliminate those few people who are the root cause of this anarchy rather punish the inhabitants of these areas. If we dont follow this strategy we cannot win this war, moreover, we will make people our enemy. So use your intelligence and a strong band of commandos rather a whole contingent of army.
First of all, the US should be out of the picture. Baitullah is a US asset and they will either protect him or kill him to ensure Pakistan does not lay it’s hands on him.
Encircling these militants without alliance in Afghanistan will be impossible as otherwise he will escape and regroup for future assaults.
So, we must forge alliances in the region, on both sides of border, and then make a concerted effort to capture him alive. His capture can expose our enemies.
If the military operate without trusting USA, they will succeed Inshallah!