Taliban and Allies Tighten Grip in Northern Pakistan

[RedEarth]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Islamic militants are using a recent peace deal with the government to consolidate their hold in northern Pakistan, vastly expanding their training of suicide bombers and other recruits and fortifying alliances with Al Qaeda and foreign fighters, diplomats and intelligence officials from several nations say. The result, they say, is virtually a Taliban mini-state.

The militants, the officials say, are openly flouting the terms of the September accord in North Waziristan, under which they agreed to end cross-border help for the Taliban insurgency that revived in Afghanistan with new force this year.

The area is becoming a magnet for an influx of foreign fighters, who not only challenge government authority in the area, but are even wresting control from local tribes and spreading their influence to neighboring areas, according to several American and NATO officials and Pakistani and Afghan intelligence officials.

This year more than 100 local leaders and government sympathizers or accused “American spies” have been killed, several of them in beheadings, as the militants have used a reign of terror to impose what President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan calls a creeping “Talibanization.” Last year, at least 100 others were also killed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/world/asia/11pakistan.html?hp&ex=1165813200&en=1dc5400e939111a5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Kagemusha]

1. Yes, but if Musharraf thought he could pound it by force, he would have

Not like the US can do it for him. Or would. Or that he would survive the US doing so if that were possible.

[maddezmom]

2. ICG Says Pakistani Treaties Facilitated More Attacks On NATO Forces

RTTNews) - The Pakistan government's pacts with pro-Taliban militant groups on the Afghan border have not only encouraged more attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan but allowed the militants to expand influence unrestrained in Pakistan, the International Crisis Group has said in a report to be released later in the day.

"Despite Pakistani denials, the tribal belt, particularly agencies such as the Waziristans, remains a Taliban sanctuary and a hub for attacks on the US-led coalition and NATO/ISAF forces and the Afghan government," the Brussels-based group said.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who is on top of the list in US's" Most Wanted" is believed to be hiding somewhere in the rugged ethnic Pashtun tribal belt.Pakistan, a reluctant US ally in the war on terror, initiated military operations in 2004 to deny al Qaeda militants sanctuary and stop cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.

more;http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20061211%5cACQRTT200612110417RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0158.htm&