Pakistan's battle with Taliban militants expands north

[sonicboom]

Pakistan's battle with Taliban militants expands north

Many Pakistan Taliban fighters are fleeing an Army offensive in South Waziristan for another tribal agency, Orakzai, where troops killed 22 militants Sunday.

By Taylor Barnes
posted November 23, 2009 at 8:22 am EST

•A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Pakistan militants are fleeing a military offensive in South Waziristan that has killed hundreds and are regrouping in another tribal agency, Orakzai. Pakistani security forces have followed, killing at least 22 Sunday in a battle in a village bordering Orakzai, which is just 10 miles south of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.

Pakistan's Army says that while the South Waziristan offensive has taken out the country's largest Taliban sanctuary, militants falling back into Orakzai could become the military's next focus (read part B below), Bloomberg reports.

Map of Pakistan that includes Orakzai, Peshawar, and South Waziristan

http://www.floppingaces.net/wp-content/pakistan.gif

Some escaped militants will abandon the Taliban movement and others will continue, making Orakzai the army's possible next target, [Military Spokesman Major General Athar] Abbas said. Pakistani paramilitary troops fought Taliban in Orakzai yesterday, destroying an FM radio station used by the guerrillas, Akhlaq Khan, a spokesman for Orakzai's political agent, said by telephone.

Yesterday's clash continued an escalation of violence in Orakzai, where air force jets have bombed suspected Taliban strongholds this month, killing scores of people, Pakistani news media have reported.

In the village Shahukhel, troops in Sunday's offensive also took out a communications tower and a training camp, according to the Pakistani daily Dawn.

Troops, the sources said, were now targeting militants' hideouts in other part of [Shahukhel] situated in Upper Orakzai from the [Shahukhel] area in Hangu.

Pakistan has waged an offensive against militants in South Waziristan since Oct. 17. The military says more than 500 Taliban and 70 soldiers have been killed in the Waziristan assault, according to Reuters. While the US has welcomed the Waziristan offensive, it is looking for more action as it scouts for ways to disrupt Afghan Taliban factions in the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Reuters adds.

Washington is keen to see Pakistan also tackle Afghan Taliban factions based in lawless enclaves along the border.

[Local police official Fareed] Khattak said forces had entered the lawless Orakzai region where many Taliban insurgents had fled. "Now helicopter gunships are striking Taliban hideouts in the agency," he said.

The Pakistani Army says it killed nearly 40 militants Sunday in several operations in the tribal areas, according to the Associated Press. But the AP adds that reporters have little access to this turbulent region, making it difficult to confirm casualty numbers.

Violence resulting from the Pakistani military's offensive in South Waziristan has spilled into nearby cities and towns, especially Peshawar. A suicide bombing near a bustling courthouse Nov. 19 killed at least 19 people, though more could have died had security forces not caught the assailant before he entered the courthouse. The Christian Science Monitor reported that the near-daily attacks on Peshawar in mid-November may indicate that the frontline in the battle against the Taliban is inching closer to the center of the country.

What's not clear is whether such bombings are the last gasp of weakening Taliban fighters – in response to the Pakistani Army offensive in neighboring Waziristan – or a continuing trend.

Pakistan's battle with Taliban militants expands north | csmonitor.com

 

[sonicboom]

Part B

Escaping Taliban May Widen War as Pakistan Pays Cost (Update1)

By James Rupert

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban fleeing a Pakistani offensive are regrouping in the country’s northwest, threatening to spread and prolong a conflict that has strained the nation’s economy and may hamper efforts to attract foreign investment.

While Pakistan says its month-old offensive in South Waziristan has destroyed the largest Taliban sanctuary, some militants are falling back to Orakzai, a mountain region less than 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, said Talat Masood, an independent military analyst in Islamabad.

Rising violence in the region last year prompted London- based Tullow Oil Plc to give up operational control of drilling operations near Orakzai. A wider conflict may make it harder to attract companies like Mol Nyrt., Hungary’s largest oil refiner, which this month started natural gas production in the province.

“Naturally, this violence is not good for the investment climate, but the government’s decision this year to tackle the Taliban is a good one for the long term,” said Habib-ur-Rehman, who manages $48 million of stocks and bonds at Karachi-based Atlas Asset Management Ltd.

Peshawar, Pakistan’s eighth-largest city, suffered 11 major terrorist attacks this year, including a Nov. 19 suicide bombing at the main courthouse that killed 18 people. The city has a U.S. consulate and straddles the truck route for supplies from the port of Karachi to U.S. troops in landlocked Afghanistan.

Mountainous Trails

South of Peshawar, guerrillas are escaping over trails that snake through the mountains, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said in a Nov. 13 interview. While “sealing off the footpaths is not realistic,” the army is “preventing the militants from moving vehicles or heavy weapons,” he said.

Some escaped militants will abandon the Taliban movement and others will continue, making Orakzai the army’s possible next target, Abbas said. Pakistani paramilitary troops fought Taliban in Orakzai yesterday, destroying an FM radio station of the guerrillas, Akhlaq Khan, a spokesman for Orakzai’s political agent, said by telephone.

Yesterday’s clash continued an escalation of violence in Orakzai, where air force jets have bombed suspected Taliban strongholds this month, killing scores of people, Pakistani news media have reported.

‘Anemic’ Economy

The fighting is hurting what the International Monetary Fund has called an “anemic” economy. Foreign aid and loans financed 40 percent of Pakistan’s $10 billion current account deficit in the year ended June 30, said Asad Farid, an economist at AKD Securities in Karachi. This year such assistance will entirely cover a deficit of $6 billion, he said.

The war against the Taliban has been costing the government $8.5 billion a year, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said July 15. This year’s figure is higher, Tarin told reporters Nov. 16, declining to give details.

Successes in South Waziristan, where the army has captured militant strongholds and main roads, may revive an argument with the Obama administration over which Taliban factions Pakistan’s forces should strike next. U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones has renewed pressure for Pakistan to hit the groups that attack U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported Nov. 15, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

Pakistani Response

“The Pakistani response to any new U.S. demand will be the same as before: that they have no resources to open a new front,” said Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council in Washington.

The army’s current offensive targets a Taliban faction in South Waziristan that opposes Pakistan’s government, which blames it for 80 percent of Islamic attacks in the country. While Taliban groups that fight in Afghanistan are based nearby in North Waziristan, Abbas said the army has no plans to expand its assault there.

“Cost and security reasons” led oil developer Tullow to hand over control of a drilling project at Kohat, near Orakzai, to its local partner, spokesman George Cazenove said in an e- mail. “Because they are no longer the operator, the number of Tullow employees in Pakistan has been reduced significantly,” although Tullow retains a 40 percent stake in the project, Cazenove said.

Budapest-based Mol, Hungary’s largest oil refiner, began production at its Manzalai field last week after an initial investment of $500 million. Initial output of 250 million cubic feet of gas a day will be increased 40 percent to 350 million cubic feet by 2013, Mol Chief Executive Officer Gyorgy Mosonyi told a press conference in Islamabad on Nov. 11.

Stocks Fall

“We are reducing risk to the possible minimum,” the company said in a statement in response to questions about security. “Operations at both the office in Islamabad and at the countryside facilities are continuous and uninterrupted.”

The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index fell 2.1 percent last month, the most since January, as bombings and assaults in major cities eroded confidence.

The South Waziristan campaign will improve Pakistan’s security because it has disrupted the country’s largest Taliban sanctuary, said Mahmood Shah, an analyst who once served as security chief for the border zone.

“We should see a reduction in the attacks within as little as two weeks,” Shah said.

On Oct. 17, the army sent 28,000 troops into the lands of the ethnic Pashtun Mehsud tribe, which has about 5,000 to 8,000 Taliban fighters, Abbas said. The battlefield is a forested, mountainous zone of 2,200 square kilometers, about half the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in Islamabad at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 23, 2009 03:45 EST

Escaping Taliban May Widen War as Pakistan Pays Cost (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

 

[iPhone]

these coward women beater and abusers are running like rats from one place to another instead of putting up a fight. I think they're under the impression that this operation is a limited scope one, like the previous operations, designed only to target an area or two, hence, their strategy to regroup in a different part to avoid the fight and once PA pulls back they can come back. These dumb fucks don't realize that PA is coming to wipe them out once and for all.

 

[SMC]

Incorrect of use of words by the journalist. Orakzai is in NW and PA has always had some presence there. But this is a good time to destroy TTP since they seem to be scattered and disorganized.