"No, no! Certainly not!"
Taliban sources said some bad turbans, mainly Arabs and Central Asians, had gone to fight the forces of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
, but a big shot dismissed reports of them setting up camps in Syria.
How can you be a "Pak" Talib if you're not a Pak?
The lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistain along the Afghan border have long been a magnet for snuffies from across the Musselmen world eager to fight U.S.-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
forces in Afghanistan.
Not that they would cross the Pak-Afghan border, no matter how poorly delimited. That would be a gross violation of both Pak and Afghan sovereignty.
Not to mention each other's national dignity...
But since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, foreign jihadists have flocked to Syria, where disparate rebel groups are seeking his downfall.
I think I've mentioned before that there are actually four sides in Syria: Pencilneck, the rebels, the Kurds, and al-Qaeda.
Some media reports say scores of Pak Taliban are among them and they have set up camps in Syria.
Blend right in with the natives, don't they? "The guerrilla is the fish, the people are the sea," as Chairman Mao used to say.
A senior commander who sits on the shura or ruling council of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) told Agence La Belle France Presse there was no tactical shift and no decision had been made to send forces to Syria.
And if you can't believe the Pak Taliban who can you believe?
"There is no reality in these reports, we have far better targets in the region, NATO troops headed by the Americans are present in Afghanistan," he said on condition of anonymity. "We are already in a war with Pak troops. We support the mujahideen's struggle in Syria but in our opinion, we have a lot more to do here in Pakistain and Afghanistan."
The TTP is an umbrella group for numerous factions trying to bring down the Pak state and impose sharia law. It has ties to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda.
"The great evil (America) is here in Afghanistan, troops from 30 kafir (non-believer) countries are attacking innocent people in Afghanistan, so Bashir al-Assad is not that important for us," the TTP commander said.
"Obama is the big evil, Americans are a much bigger evil for us. The Taliban shura has never discussed sending mujahideen to Syria."
Another mid-ranking TTP commander in Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a
ministatein centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
, the main town of North
Wazoo tribal district which is a hotbed of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity, said some fighters had gone to Syria "in a personal capacity".A third senior TTP cadre said those who went were mostly Arabs, Uzbeks and Chechens.
More than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad erupted, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Ismail, an Arab fighter from al-Qaeda, told AFP in northwest Pakistain that he planned to join the fight against Assad.
"I am going to Syria in the next few days, my family will stay here," he said.
"Our mujahideen are going not only to Syria but also to Leb, Egypt and other Arab countries."