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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani military now entirely reactive in tribal areas |
| 2006-01-27 |
| A former Pakistan Army general told an American newspaper that in the tribal areas today the army has become “more of a reactive force, mostly hitting when fired upon.” According to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, former Lt Gen Talat Masood said, “The strategy is not working and you can see the results. The Taliban is (sic) more organised than they were.” The army, however, has repeatedly denied such claims, insisting that 70,000 troops and paramilitary forces continue to strike at the heart of militant enclaves. “The Pakistan Army has never let off. We are still continuing with the same vigour and effort,” Brigadier Shahjehan Ali Khan, acting spokesman of the Pakistan military, told the newspaper’s correspondent, David Montero, who filed his report with a Peshawar dateline. While there is a growing perception, says the report, that the army, having seen its strategies fail, has largely retreated to its barracks, this is refuted by central media coordinator of the Pakistan Muslim League, Muazzam Butt who is quoted as saying, “They are not confined to their barracks, they are actively patrolling the area.” The report has local journalists describing army personnel as captives in their own barracks, unable to leave for fear of being shot at or kidnapped. It is an accusation that ruling party officials and the army strongly deny. Gen Talat Masood and other observers told the American newspaper that there is need for better intelligence gathering in the tribal zone, particularly since many of the troops deployed to fight are not familiar with the area. Their local contacts are weak, their knowledge of the terrain inadequate - precisely the opposite of the enemy they are fighting, many of whom are part of the society or deeply integrated into it. “If their intelligence improves, then the best thing would be to do rapid deployments in specific areas,” according to the retired general, now a security expert. The report, quoting “analysts of the war on terror here,” says that Pakistan’s military strategy is in need of a “paradigm shift”. Intelligence remains too weak, and even pitched battles flexing the military’s muscle have shown little effect against an enemy that remains largely unknown. “The question of whether Islamabad is effectively eradicating Al Qaeda elements in the semi-autonomous border region has become a constant - and touchy - refrain in relations with the United States,” the correspondent writes. He quotes Afrasiab Khattak as stating, “The American missile strikes show that they (the Americans) are not satisfied with what Pakistan is doing. The results (the army has) yielded in the last two years have been negligible.” Pakistani TV journalist Shaukat Khattak says of the battles that have taken place between the army and the tribal militants, “It was like a war between two countries, not a fight with militants.” Some analysts marvel that with such a large force the results have been so paltry, says the report. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Prof. you done misspelled created. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-27 09:57 |
| #3 I wonder whether the Pakistani military might find the going a little bit easier if they brought the equivalent of the Corps of Engineers along with them, fixed up roads and sewers, and electricity. |
| Posted by: Perfessor 2006-01-27 09:45 |
| #2 Pakistani TV journalist Shaukat Khattak says of the battles that have taken place between the army and the tribal militants, “It was like a war between two countries, not a fight with militants.” Some analysts marvel that with such a large force the results have been so paltry, says the report. Maybe if both sides weren't shooting over each others heads trying to miss each other. |
| Posted by: Grins Sluper5274 2006-01-27 05:23 |
| #1 He that would Fish, must venture his bait. |
| Posted by: Ben 2006-01-27 02:54 |