Taliban and Allies Tighten Grip in North of Pakistan By CARLOTTA GALL and ISMAIL KHAN

[applegrove]

Taliban and Allies Tighten Grip in North of Pakistan
"THE BORDER Pakistan has a military base in South Waziristan, an unruly region on the Afghan border that is dominated by local tribes. But one sign of how limited the Pakistani government’s reach is here is that soldiers on a United States base nearby say they routinely see Taliban fighters cross the mountains at night."

By CARLOTTA GALL and ISMAIL KHAN
Published: December 11, 2006
The New York Times

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.

...........SNIP"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/world/asia/11pakistan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[AIJ Alom]

1. This is where you urge the Pakistanis to send in every piece of

circa 1970's military hardware they have.

[classysassy]

2. The decider

proberly send more troops after the Iraq or bush war #2 has been decided.