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2009-01-07 Afghanistan

Petraeus plan to defeat the Taliban to be tested in 2009

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Posted by Fred 2009-01-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 This was also tried in the border tribal areas and in the Swat valley. In Bajaur, the local Salarzai tribe sided with the government, and heavily backed by Pakistan's army and air force, had some success.

They set the property belonging to the Taliban on fire but once the Taliban attacks began and Pakistani forces retreated, the Salarzai sustained huge losses.

In the Swat Valley, the Awami National Party, which governs North West Frontier Province created citizen comittees to establish peace in the area.

In a collective decision they destroyed property belonging to the Taliban. However, very much like Bajaur when the Taliban regrouped and forced the Pakistani security agencies to retreat, and the Awami National Party was wiped out of the Swat valley. Several leaders including members of the provincial assemblies were killed.

Shahzad misses the point not once, but twice. The Pakistanis thought the tribal militias were a substitute for conventional forces. They are not, and can never be. The only way this can work is by having the tribal militia be NATO's eyes and ears, just as the Iraqi Awakening served as Uncle Sam's eyes and ears. The tribal militias can't fight off the Taliban. What they can do is tell us where the Taliban are when they see them, and hold the Taliban off while waiting for our troops to rescue them. Which is pretty much what happened in Iraq.

Why did the Pakistanis feed the tribal militias to the Taliban? Are they stupid? My guess is that they wanted the tribal militias - tribal and Taliban alike - to kill each other off, leaving the conventional military in charge. The fear of competition from Sunni militias is what made Iraq's PM Maliki so wary of the Awakening. The Pakistanis probably made the same calculation as Maliki, and pulled back before the tribal militias were ready to stand on their own.

Uncle Sam doesn't fear competition from Afghan tribal militias any more than he feared competition from Iraq's Sunni militias. He'll keep conventional forces nearby to exploit intelligence from the tribal militias. Pakistani forces used tribal militias as a substitute for conventional forces. Uncle Sam is looking to use tribal forces so conventional forces can do more, not less fighting, in engagements of his, not the Taliban's, choice.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2009-01-07 11:34|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2009-01-07 11:34|| Front Page Top

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