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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Death toll rising for Waziristan hard boyz |
| 2004-09-20 |
| In the hidden ravines and forbidding, dust-colored mountains of a remote border region near Afghanistan, about 25,000 Pakistani troops are battling hundreds of well-armed foreign militants and Pakistani tribesmen in an increasingly violent confrontation that is imposing growing costs on civilians and prompting warnings of wider unrest. The government has stepped up the intensity of its attacks in the tribal zone of South Waziristan after a series of failed attempts this year to negotiate the surrender of the foreigners, identified by U.S. and Pakistani officials as being allied with al Qaeda, most of them from Chechnya and Uzbekistan. The ethnic Pashtun population of the region has traditionally paid little heed to dictates from Islamabad. On Sept. 9, for example, an airstrike and subsequent assault by helicopter gunships on a fortified compound in the Dila Khula district of South Waziristan killed as many as 100 people, including foreign militants and some noncombatants, according to foreign diplomats and reports by Pakistani journalists based in the region. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 If they we legit peaceful types all they had to do was register. The offer was made. They didn't comply with the rules layed down by the government. Lay down your arms, renounce violence and register. Now quite a few be dead. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-20 6:14:52 PM |
| #7 A significant number of Chechen, Tajik and Uzbeks that fought during the Soviet war in Afghanistan married locals in the Parchanar Salient, and other Frontier Independent Territories (FIT) along the border. In many cases these were Soviet army of Chechen and others who were captured and given a choice join the mujihadeen or die. Until recently, their family links in the FIT have sheltered them...no more. Allan be praised! |
| Posted by: RN 2004-09-20 5:59:09 PM |
| #6 Good to hear that we are getting good intel. |
| Posted by: V is for Victory 2004-09-20 12:52:21 PM |
| #5 So instead of being in the nice, clean, comfortable American prison, those important Arabs are hiding in hot, dirty, noisy Pakistani safehouses, eating that wonderfully spicey food that tastes nothing like Mama's baba ghanoush, afraid to make phone calls or otherwise call attention to themselves, with only a couple of young Pakistani wives to keep them company, praying that not even one of their protectors have been turned? Good! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-09-20 6:27:40 AM |
| #4 Well close. I bet many of those Arabs are now in Iraq via Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Some are Arabs certainly are still in Pakistan. Some very important ones. Hiding out in large urban centers where they can blend better and sympathetic officals, cops and military can help them evade detection and there inevitable death. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-20 5:18:06 AM |
| #3 Most of the Arabs are probably long gone. It is the Chechens and Uzbeks who can't return home, whereas Arabs have 20 Arabic speaking countries to choose from. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-09-20 5:09:08 AM |
| #2 The most important passage in the whole article "In every case, we made our own independent confirmation, and each time, the precision of the American information shocked us." That means we have the Pakistanis full attention and know when they are pissing on our leg a saying it's raining. It also means that we have very good intel going for us in that region even if the MSM wants to say "quagmire." If the Pakistanis are telling the truth about 50% of the terrorists of Chechen and Uzbeki origins having be sent to hell; where are the Arab/Saudi jihadi and who is hiding them? Do we know? |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-09-20 4:20:10 AM |
| #1 May the deity of your choice bless the Pakistanis for this. Taking the fight to where the terrorists live and breed is one of the best things we can do in the WoT. |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-09-20 4:10:03 AM |