Pakistani troops capture militant stronghold

[Culpeper]

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081025/D941LQ580.html


"Now we have complete control in this area from where miscreants used to go to Afghanistan, Mohmand, Dir and Swat," army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters flown in to Bajur by military helicopter. "Miscreants have been expelled or killed."



Anybody got a map of the region? Is this important?

[Schmedlap]

See map here: http://www.longwarjournal.org/maps/pakistan-fata-15.php

Two of the three regions mentioned, Dir and Swat, are the top-most red-colored regions on the map. Mohmand is SW of those regions, but does not appear to border them. That makes some of the statements a little confusing.

[Danny]

This Kabuki dance before, where Pakistan claims massive, magnificent gains, negotiates and makes "peace" with the Taliban, agrees to withdraw as long as the Taliban renounce violence, and so on the wheel goes. It's part of a show to keep U.S. dollars rolling in.

They 'control' this area. Sure. That's why tribal elders who oppose the Taliban keep getting blown up.

[davidbfpo]

I am sure a few weeks ago there was a report that several hundred thousand refugees had fled the fighting in the Bajur Agency. That could explain how the Pakistani military have "won", most of the people had fled?

davidbfpo

[Ken White]

fortified cave complex in Bajur that floated around several weeks ago. Note the lead sentence in the linked article says the offensive has been going for two months; Culpepper and Danny may have missed that. Clearing bad guys out of difficult terrain is not easy, more people should try it...

I suspect they're doing the best they can with what they have.

We could all wish they had more of many things -- they don't.

[Culpeper]

fortified cave complex in Bajur that floated around several weeks ago. Note the lead sentence in the linked article says the offensive has been going for two months; Culpepper and Danny may have missed that. Clearing bad guys out of difficult terrain is not easy, more people should try it...

I suspect they're doing the best they can with what they have.

We could all wish they had more of many things -- they don't.

I didn't miss the two month campaign part I don't doubt the story. Just wondering of its importance as claimed later in the story. I'm not familiar with the region. Just sounded like some good news to me. Speaking of clearing out bad guys in tough terrain. I couldn't even get to a covey of quail out of an area of thick salt cedar brush today. I can't imagine the endurance it takes up in those mountains and valleys with the enemy behaving like a covey.

[Ken White]

I didn't miss the two month campaign part I don't doubt the story. Just wondering of its importance as claimed later in the story. I'm not familiar with the region. Just sounded like some good news to me. Speaking of clearing out bad guys in tough terrain. I couldn't even get to a covey of quail out of an area of thick salt cedar brush today. I can't imagine the endurance it takes up in those mountains and valleys with the enemy behaving like a covey.It's another step; they've got to go very slowly or they'll arouse opposition instead of grudging tacit support from the local elders.

The Hill tribes don't like the foreigners or AQ -- or even the Taliban -- but they also really do not like the flatlanders that are most of the Pakistani Army. So it's gotta be slow and easy; it'll take a while to get the are under some sort of control, possibly four or five more years but Pakistan will eventually be better off for it.

I hear you on the clearing bit -- just going after Quail would wear me out nowadays... :o

[davidbfpo]

From the BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7701336.stm ; one of the better correspondents, although clearly on an officially guided tour.

davidbfpo

[DaveDoyle]

Gentlemen,
I was walking in the house, inbetween handing out candy to trick or treaters, and saw the Fox News ticker with information about Tohir Yuldashev. Yuldashev is the founder and leader of the IMU, and is suspected to be in Afghanistan. I didn't see the details on the ticker.

I have been checking on line and looking for details on any ticker and haven't seen anything?

Has anyone seen anything on this?

Thanks.

[jmm99]

Here is Fox's source.


The Long War Journal
US Predators strike again in Waziristan
By Bill Roggio
October 31, 2008 3:10 PM

US unmanned Predator aircraft struck inside Pakistan's tribal areas for the second time today. After targeting a mid-level al Qaeda operative in North Waziristan, US Predators attacked a compound in Wana, South Waziristan.

Six "foreigners" -- a term used to describe Arabs or other non-Pakistani al Qaeda members -- and a "tribesman" are reported to have been killed in the strike. The compound is said to be owned by Faz-e-Haq.

Tahir Yuldalshev, the commander of a Uzbek terror group and Mullah Nazir were the target of the attack. A US intelligence source said that Nazir was wounded in the strike, “possibly seriously.”
...
Yuldashev is the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that operates out of Pakistan's tribal areas. Yuldashev enjoys a close relationship with Osama bin Laden. He is a member of al Qaeda's global shura council. Some of Yuldashev's fighters are believed to serve in the Black Guard, Osama bin Laden's personal corps of bodyguards.

Yuldashev maintains tactical control of about one to two thousand fighters inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal in the past. His fighters are active in eastern Afghanistan, where they attack Coalition and Afghan forces. .....

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/10/us_predators_strike.php