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Asia Pacific
A Long History of Rebellion in the Mountains of Pakistan
By DOUGLAS SCHORZMAN and KIRAN NAZISHJUNE 30, 2014

Inside The North Waziristan tribal agency in northwestern Pakistan has been the focus of a lot of firepower: The C.I.A. has made it ground zero for its drone strike campaign, the Pakistani military has sporadically unleashed raids and barrages there, and now it has been stormed by Pakistani infantry forces trying to clear out entrenched militant groups.

But long before Al Qaeda and the Taliban found shelter in the forbidding mountains of the tribal region, Waziristan was a wellspring of guerrilla insurgency and resistance to whatever power had tried to bring it in line. The Pashtun tribes of Waziristan have never been truly conquered, and courting them as allies has almost always ended up backfiring on whoever has tried — ask the British, Pakistanis, Afghans and, for that matter, the Americans.

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From the mid-19th century until their departure in 1947, British forces fought Pashtun rebels in Waziristan at huge losses of life to both sides. Then, as now, the tribesmen knew the mountains and treacherous pathways better, and were never completely jarred loose, even by the 20th-century dawn of airstrikes, delivered by British biplanes.
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In the strategic maneuvering of “The Great Game,” the British imposed the Durand Line border with Afghanistan in 1893, and in the process divided the Pashtun population. To this day, that border is an irritant to governments and a fiction to inhabitants.
In the decades after, Pashtun fighters waged a new jihad that spanned governments: first against the declining British Empire, then against the Pakistani government founded in the partition of 1947. One of their goals was an autonomous Pashtunistan, spanning the Durand Line, and at times they were aided covertly by the Afghan government.
Even as the fledgling Pakistani government fought the Pashtuns, they also sought to employ them, paying tribal fighters to deploy against India. That effort reached new heights in the 1980s, after the Soviet invasion next door in Afghanistan.
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Suddenly, Pashtun jihadis were the allies of choice for Pakistani, Saudi and American officials who were trying to bloody the Soviets, and Waziristan — rugged, impregnable, close to the border — was the perfect training ground for them. Money and arms, and thousands of volunteers from the Arab world, flowed into North and South Waziristan under the watch of the Pakistani military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, and with the blessing of the United States.
The relationships and expertise forged in the fight against the Soviets became the foundation for new militant movements after the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, this time in the Taliban insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in the global terrorism campaign directed from the tribal areas by Al Qaeda against the United States and Western world.
The Pakistani military struck a tenuous peace deal with the Waziristan-based factions a few years later, but as it fell apart, many of the army’s former allies among the militants turned against it and the Pakistani government. Crackdowns on the tribal areas intensified, and a military offensive in South Waziristan and other areas of the northwestern frontier was waged in 2009. The assault sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing, including militant commanders, who moved north to join their comrades in the even more rugged terrain of North Waziristan.
Since then, drone strikes have cut into the militants’ leadership ranks. But for the most part, the militant groups sheltering in the mountains of North Waziristan were able to kill or force out resistant tribal leaders, share resources and grow stronger together for years. “There is no militant group in the world that you won’t find here,” one tribal leader said in a telephone interview. “From Uzbeks, to Chechen, to Chinese and Turkish militants, everyone is free in N.W.”
Now, the Pakistani military has marched into Miram Shah and Mir Ali, the main towns in North Waziristan. Again, a huge wave of refugees has been created, with many crossing the gossamer border into Afghanistan, where the political process is struggling and the American military is withdrawing. With those refugees, many officials say, are again a number of militant commanders and fighters.
I can bet that the Journalists who have written this article have never been to Pakistan nor FATA. They have just cherry picked information from some blogs or wikipedia and wrote this article.
Mostly bullshit i must say...
 
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BANNU (AFP) Military helicopters shelled militant hideouts in the country's restive northwest on Wednesday as part of a massive ongoing offensive against the Taliban and other extremists, killing 10 insurgents, officials said.
The helicopters pounded Islamist compounds in the Khar Warsak area, 12 kilometres (seven miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region.
"The helicopters destroyed three militant compounds and killed 10 insurgents during the shelling," a local security official told AFP.
A local intelligence official confirmed the attack and militant casualties.
Nearly 500,000 people have fled the offensive in North Waziristan, which is aimed at wiping out longstanding militant strongholds in the area, which borders Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of families have left for the town of Bannu, close to North Waziristan, while hundreds more have moved further afield to the towns of Lakki Marwat, Karak and Dera Ismail Khan since the offensive began in mid-June.
Jets and artillery began hitting militant targets in North Waziristan on June 15, launching an operation to regain full control of the district after years of pressure from Washington and other powers.
The assault was finally launched after a dramatic attack on Karachi airport last month which killed dozens of people and marked the end of a faltering peace process with the Pakistani Taliban.
So far, 376 militants and 19 soldiers have been killed in the offensive, according to the military, though with the area off-limits to journalists the number and identity of the dead is impossible to verify.
Major General Asim Bajwa, the chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, said on Tuesday the ongoing offensive would target all militants, including the feared Haqqani network.
He also demanded Afghanistan do more to track down hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who took over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership last year after previous chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a US drone.
Fazlullah is believed to be in hiding across the border.

Military helicopters pound hideouts, kill 10 militants | Pakistan | Dunya News

That is one cool lookin explosion. Hope many talibs died in that one.
 
Ao kana...some Taliban love....



Is that guy with the hat SSG? His uniform is different, mods on gun are different as well...

If he is an SSG, then does PA insert a couple of SSG operators with the regular soldiers?

@Xeric, @Icarus.


He is definitely SSG, there are no embeds though, his unit (or a segment of it) must be involved with the force tasked with that particular location.
 
Ao kana...some Taliban love....



Is that guy with the hat SSG? His uniform is different, mods on gun are different as well...

If he is an SSG, then does PA insert a couple of SSG operators with the regular soldiers?

@Xeric, @Icarus.

He is definitely SSG, there are no embeds though, his unit (or a segment of it) must be involved with the force tasked with that particular location.

I distinctly remember someone serving mention here that teams of 4/5 are bring led by one SSG guy with the remaining regulars and that this has worked really well. I'll try to find the post.
 
Operation Zarb-e-Azb: 1st July Developments - PKKH.tv

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Military Forces discovered a large IED-making plant in Miranshah area of NWA on the seventeenth day of the offensive.

DG ISPR Asim Bajwa told delegation of foreign media reporters that troops recovered 225 cylinders of explosive materials, each weighing 80 to 100 kilograms from the IED-making plant along with a large quantity of IED-materials and a physical training facility.

He further said that over 150 incomplete cylinders meant for manufacturing landmines, 10 anti-tank landmines, 700 pipes filled with explosive material, training literature and equipment for physical training and welding were also seized during ground operation in Miranshah.

He also called upon the Afghan Govt to take steps for arresting Mullah Fazlullah, chief of the TTP and to dismantle sanctuaries of the TTP on Afghan soil.

Meanwhile, two security personnel were martyred and another injured in gun attack in Mirali tehsil of NWA. According to officials, the attack took place in Mirali tehsil where a vehicle, carrying security personnel from Khajuri checkpost to Miranshah, came under militants attack near bypass.

Since the start of the operation, 376 terrorists have been killed while 19 terrorists have surrendered to the security forces - 61 terrorist’shideouts have been destroyed in the operation - 19 Soldiers have embraced martyrdom during the operation.

PM: Operation will continue till elimination of all terrorists

PM Nawaz Sharif said that the military offensive ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ was being carried out in NWA with full vigour and it will be continued indiscriminately till elimination of all the local and foreign terrorists.

He expressed these views during his meeting with PAF Chief Air Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt.

Sunni Tehreek Ulema Board appeals to militants to surrender arms

The Sunni Tehreek Ulema Board on Monday made a compassionate appeal to the armed militants, working under the Taliban, to surrender arms.

Over 300 scholars of Sunni Tehreek Ulema Board appealed to top Taliban leaders to persuade their factions to give up arms. The Ulema said Islam is the religion of peace and it preaches tolerance and brotherhood.

FDMA to start registration of unregistered IDPs

Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) will start registration of those IDPs from NWA in different areas of KPK who have not been registered so far, in the next two days. About 30,000 individuals will be registered in this next phase

Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said in a handout that 37,757 families consisting of 466,287 individuals were registered at the registration points at Saidgai in FR of Bannu.

3 persons including IDPs injured in Bannu

Two IDPs were injured, as well as a police officer, when a scuffle broke out at a ration centre outside Bannu on Monday.


Sindh’s nationalist parties have expressed concern over the arrival of IDPs to Sindh

Sindh’s nationalist parties have expressed concern over the arrival of IDPs from NWA to different parts of Sindh. They believe that the IDPs will not only increase the social and economic burden, but will also disturb the demographics of Sindh.

Other Developments

Secretary Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that a new ‘foolproof security plan’ for Karachi airport had been prepared. He said that the PM also released funds of Rs 6 billion for the new plan and also gave approval for induction of five hundred employees to beef up security at the airport.

Meanwhile, a restructuring of the ASF is likely to happen, following recent attack on airports in Karachi and Peshawar. According to sources, the DG of ASF will now be of a major general rank, while the deputy DG will be of a brigadier rank.

Furthermore, the army will train ASF personnel and they will also be provided APCs for patrolling on runways.

Reported by: Fahad Nabeel and Khoulah Afzal

Source PKKH.tv
 
I distinctly remember someone serving mention here that teams of 4/5 are bring led by one SSG guy with the remaining regulars and that this has worked really well. I'll try to find the post.

I have been involved in Bajaur and Swat Op, unless there has been a change in the field operations since then, I can't say that the SSG-regulars sounds right, I'll ask some of my friends involved and let you know for sure whenever I get the chance to talk to them.
 
He is definitely SSG, there are no embeds though, his unit (or a segment of it) must be involved with the force tasked with that particular location.
But SSG usually have there Insignia/badge on there left shoulders. DOnt they?


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