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Pakistan Army destroys RAW in Swat–Delhi fails in destabilization scheme RUPEE NEWS: Recording History, Narrating Archives, Strategic Intellibrief Analysis: Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | ??????? ????
Pakistan Army destroys RAW in SwatDelhi fails in destabilization scheme
Posted on July 4, 2009 by Moin Ansari
Even the worst detractors of the Pakistan Army have been impressed by the speed at which the strongholds of the Zaliman have been eradicated. After tightening the noose around them in Swat, the army pounded them in a variety of ways. The foreigners did not have time to escape back to their bases in Afghanistan. The Indian Consulates could get them weapons, but could not guarantee them victory. The defeated Zaliman are now a spent force, with the population against them, the lashkars chasing them, the Swatis hating them, and the army on the hunt for them. It is a matter of time that more of their bodies will be on display on the streets. RAW and its sponsors are on the run in Swat and hiding in the Bharati Consulates now. The message is you can run, but you cannot hide. The insurgency has been reduced to a militancy and then degraded to a nuisance. Eliminating the nuisance will take time
Our nation is proud of its soldiers, airmen and sailors who have laid their lives in recent operations, he said.
Let me assure you that in line with our proud traditions, the armed forces of Pakistan will never flinch whenever the nation gives us a call, the COAS remarked.
I can say with conviction that with the help of the people of Pakistan, we will succeed in our fight against terrorism, he added.
The COAS told the passing out mid-shipmen that the PNA has provided them with a solid foundation in line with its highest traditions of excellence.
The nation has reposed its trust in you. Now it is your responsibility to uphold that trust as professional sailors. It is your duty to come up to the expectations of the nation and the Navy, he added. I pray that Almighty Allah gives you the courage and strength to discharge your responsibilities in the best interest of Pakistan. General Kiyani
The campaign against Taliban forces in the northwest has impressed observers
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan The Pakistani army has exceeded expectations in its offensive against Taliban fighters in northwestern Pakistan, effectively marshaling arms, tactics and political support. But the tougher challenge will be preventing the extremists from returning, or from regrouping elsewhere.
The key question is whether the army can hold the ground afterward, said Urmila Venugopalan, a South Asia expert with the defense analysis group Janes ..The army has deployed more than 20,000 troops against an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Taliban fighters. A rule of thumb holds that armies need a 10-to-1 advantage in fighting insurgencies, said Farrukh Saleem, executive director of Islamabads Center for Research and Security Studies.
Military experts sometimes refer to the type of fighting going on in the Swat, Buner and Dir districts as asymmetric warfare. Put simply, most armies arent great against scrappy, highly motivated, mobile militants.
Since the offensive was launched in late April, Taliban fighters have avoided head-on conflict with a superior military force, engaging in hit-and-run, harassment and scare tactics, and, when all else failed, hiding or fleeing, hoping the army would lose interest. Thats exactly what happened in Swat in late 2007, late 2008 and early this year.
Theyve also focused on softer targets, such as police stations and government offices, in a bid to create fear among the civilian population.
Whats potentially different this time around, analysts said, is the greater public support for the army, provided it holds. That could be tested as more retaliatory suicide attacks hit Pakistani cities, such as the recent strikes on a security headquarters in Lahore and a five-star hotel in Peshawar.
Although most Pakistanis had gone along with a controversial February deal allowing the Taliban to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in Swat, the Talibans expansion into Buner, a mere 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital, set alarm bells clanging at home and abroad.
I think the army played it very intelligently, said Tasneem Noorani, a former minister. Everyone begged them to come in. So people cant complain during the next election. Its a popular operation.
Targeting Buner and Dir first also made strategic sense. By attacking two districts that bracket Swat, analysts said, the army forced militants inward, letting the military effectively employ its air power and artillery against a more lightly equipped adversary using rocket launchers, machine guns, explosives, light artillery and small arms.
Initially the military relied heavily on air power, claiming success against Taliban strongholds and ammunition dumps.
The army couldnt just put boots on the ground and get slaughtered, said Talat Masood, an analyst and retired Pakistani general. Once they soften them up significantly, and theyre on the run, they can make better progress.
With the area ringed, ground troops were sent in to control mountain passes and other choke points, cutting off Taliban supply routes and hampering escape.
I think that was quite effective, said Rahul Bhonsle, head of Security-risks.com, a New Delhi-based military analysis group.
It also dropped special-forces units from helicopters into Taliban strongholds, analysts said. Armies, with their mechanized transport and heavy artillery, dont tend to do well in densely covered mountainous terrain, said I.A. Rehman, an independent analyst. The special forces helped blunt that disadvantage by calling in bombing targets for aircraft and taking the fight to the militants before they could flee or fully dig in.
Early on, the army concentrated on the northwestern side of Swat, analysts said, blocking escape routes in the direction of the porous Afghan border and driving militants south, where the flatter terrain favored the army and where troops moving in from Buner and Dir could intercept them.
Basically, the army tried to cut off the routes that give them an exit, said Nasim Zehra, an independent defense analyst.
The government also employed some sleight of hand to prevent Taliban fighters from being resupplied.
In a cable reportedly intercepted by the army that was subsequently leaked, Swat Taliban leader Maulana Qazi Fazlullah pleaded for assistance from Baitullah Mahsud, a top Pakistani Taliban leader based in the South Waziristan region.
But South Waziristan officials distracted Mahsud with a jirga, or council, of tribal elders ostensibly sent to conduct local peace talks, said Rahimullah Yusufzai, an editor with the News newspaper in Peshawar.
It was a smart strategy, he said. He never stopped talking.
Theyve done military before and theyve done the economic side before. The question is whether it can be well planned together.
Pakistan Army destroys RAW in SwatDelhi fails in destabilization scheme
Posted on July 4, 2009 by Moin Ansari
Even the worst detractors of the Pakistan Army have been impressed by the speed at which the strongholds of the Zaliman have been eradicated. After tightening the noose around them in Swat, the army pounded them in a variety of ways. The foreigners did not have time to escape back to their bases in Afghanistan. The Indian Consulates could get them weapons, but could not guarantee them victory. The defeated Zaliman are now a spent force, with the population against them, the lashkars chasing them, the Swatis hating them, and the army on the hunt for them. It is a matter of time that more of their bodies will be on display on the streets. RAW and its sponsors are on the run in Swat and hiding in the Bharati Consulates now. The message is you can run, but you cannot hide. The insurgency has been reduced to a militancy and then degraded to a nuisance. Eliminating the nuisance will take time
Our nation is proud of its soldiers, airmen and sailors who have laid their lives in recent operations, he said.
Let me assure you that in line with our proud traditions, the armed forces of Pakistan will never flinch whenever the nation gives us a call, the COAS remarked.
I can say with conviction that with the help of the people of Pakistan, we will succeed in our fight against terrorism, he added.
The COAS told the passing out mid-shipmen that the PNA has provided them with a solid foundation in line with its highest traditions of excellence.
The nation has reposed its trust in you. Now it is your responsibility to uphold that trust as professional sailors. It is your duty to come up to the expectations of the nation and the Navy, he added. I pray that Almighty Allah gives you the courage and strength to discharge your responsibilities in the best interest of Pakistan. General Kiyani
The campaign against Taliban forces in the northwest has impressed observers
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan The Pakistani army has exceeded expectations in its offensive against Taliban fighters in northwestern Pakistan, effectively marshaling arms, tactics and political support. But the tougher challenge will be preventing the extremists from returning, or from regrouping elsewhere.
The key question is whether the army can hold the ground afterward, said Urmila Venugopalan, a South Asia expert with the defense analysis group Janes ..The army has deployed more than 20,000 troops against an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Taliban fighters. A rule of thumb holds that armies need a 10-to-1 advantage in fighting insurgencies, said Farrukh Saleem, executive director of Islamabads Center for Research and Security Studies.
Military experts sometimes refer to the type of fighting going on in the Swat, Buner and Dir districts as asymmetric warfare. Put simply, most armies arent great against scrappy, highly motivated, mobile militants.
Since the offensive was launched in late April, Taliban fighters have avoided head-on conflict with a superior military force, engaging in hit-and-run, harassment and scare tactics, and, when all else failed, hiding or fleeing, hoping the army would lose interest. Thats exactly what happened in Swat in late 2007, late 2008 and early this year.
Theyve also focused on softer targets, such as police stations and government offices, in a bid to create fear among the civilian population.
Whats potentially different this time around, analysts said, is the greater public support for the army, provided it holds. That could be tested as more retaliatory suicide attacks hit Pakistani cities, such as the recent strikes on a security headquarters in Lahore and a five-star hotel in Peshawar.
Although most Pakistanis had gone along with a controversial February deal allowing the Taliban to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in Swat, the Talibans expansion into Buner, a mere 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital, set alarm bells clanging at home and abroad.
I think the army played it very intelligently, said Tasneem Noorani, a former minister. Everyone begged them to come in. So people cant complain during the next election. Its a popular operation.
Targeting Buner and Dir first also made strategic sense. By attacking two districts that bracket Swat, analysts said, the army forced militants inward, letting the military effectively employ its air power and artillery against a more lightly equipped adversary using rocket launchers, machine guns, explosives, light artillery and small arms.
Initially the military relied heavily on air power, claiming success against Taliban strongholds and ammunition dumps.
The army couldnt just put boots on the ground and get slaughtered, said Talat Masood, an analyst and retired Pakistani general. Once they soften them up significantly, and theyre on the run, they can make better progress.
With the area ringed, ground troops were sent in to control mountain passes and other choke points, cutting off Taliban supply routes and hampering escape.
I think that was quite effective, said Rahul Bhonsle, head of Security-risks.com, a New Delhi-based military analysis group.
It also dropped special-forces units from helicopters into Taliban strongholds, analysts said. Armies, with their mechanized transport and heavy artillery, dont tend to do well in densely covered mountainous terrain, said I.A. Rehman, an independent analyst. The special forces helped blunt that disadvantage by calling in bombing targets for aircraft and taking the fight to the militants before they could flee or fully dig in.
Early on, the army concentrated on the northwestern side of Swat, analysts said, blocking escape routes in the direction of the porous Afghan border and driving militants south, where the flatter terrain favored the army and where troops moving in from Buner and Dir could intercept them.
Basically, the army tried to cut off the routes that give them an exit, said Nasim Zehra, an independent defense analyst.
The government also employed some sleight of hand to prevent Taliban fighters from being resupplied.
In a cable reportedly intercepted by the army that was subsequently leaked, Swat Taliban leader Maulana Qazi Fazlullah pleaded for assistance from Baitullah Mahsud, a top Pakistani Taliban leader based in the South Waziristan region.
But South Waziristan officials distracted Mahsud with a jirga, or council, of tribal elders ostensibly sent to conduct local peace talks, said Rahimullah Yusufzai, an editor with the News newspaper in Peshawar.
It was a smart strategy, he said. He never stopped talking.
Theyve done military before and theyve done the economic side before. The question is whether it can be well planned together.
