swat

More on U.S. efforts to aid Pakistanis displaced by the current military efforts against the Taliban. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this morning that the Obama administration is sending $100 million for displaced-person assistance through international-aid organizations already on the ground. Clinton explained that the way the aid will work at a White [...]

There are something like 900,000 Pakistanis internally displaced because of the ongoing fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistani military, according to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the number is likely to increase by hundreds of thousands more. The United States, however, stands ready to provide aid. [...]

After coming under attack from the Taliban, the Pakistani military is now recognizing there’s no more peace deal with them in the Swat valley, and is no longer just trying to drive Taliban forces back from Buner into Swat. But that’s not to say that every aspect of the deal is no longer in place. [...]

Whatever you do, don’t miss The New York Times’ epic interview with a Pakistani Taliban tactician about what has become “a seamless conflict” on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The tactician is based out of Wana, in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but spends much of his time focused on Afghanistan. His superiors, for [...]

An encouraging statement:
“Enough is enough. We have decided to flush them out,” the senior adviser in the [Pakistani] Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, told the independent television channel Geo.
“The peace accord was linked to peace. When there is no peace, there is no use for that accord,” Mr. Malik said. “I appeal to the Taliban to [...]

By now you’ve probably seen the ghastly video, shot on a camera phone, of Taliban thugs flogging a teenage woman in Pakistan’s Swat valley for the simple act of being seen in public with a married man. The video is many things — a reminder, if one was needed, of the savagery of Taliban rule; [...]

Bill Roggio presents a really interesting poll from the Pakistani tribal areas that strongly suggests two things. First, the Pakistanis really dislike U.S. drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets. Second, the one thing they appear to dislike more is … the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The New York Times made an incredibly moving video about what it’s like to live in Swat under the rule of the Taliban. The barbarism on display is repugnant: dead bodies in the streets as a warning against dissent; radios barking orders prohibiting girl’s education; storekeepers intimidated from selling products to women. Please watch the [...]

According to this account from The New York Times, while Taliban forces were launching attacks in Kabul, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, President Obama’s special envoy to Af-Pak, visited the Pakistani tribal areas. That’s a pretty strong don’t-think-we’re-shook signal. He heard from beleaguered citizens of the insurgent/terrorist-riddled Swat valley — who may not be as naturally aligned [...]