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To fight another day, Taliban cede Swat Valley to army
FOR the past six weeks the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach towards the heartland of the country.
Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, which is now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.
All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without much of a fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say.
About 2 million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.
A suicide attack on Friday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir showed the Taliban are able to switch their field of operation within Pakistan. A spokesman for the insurgents said the blast, which hit an army vehicle, killing two soldiers, was in retaliation for military operations against the militants in the north-west.
Hakimullah Mehsud, a spokesman for the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, said: "We warn the Government to stop the operation and air strikes in Waziristan, otherwise we will continue such attacks all over Pakistan."
The Government's reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from Washington, which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.
But the Taliban's decision to scatter leaves the future of Swat, and of Pakistan's overall stability, under continued threat, military analysts say.
Signs abound that the military's campaign in Swat is less than decisive. The military extended its deadline for ending the campaign. Even in the areas where progress has been made, the military controls little more than urban centres and roads, say those who have fled the areas. The military has also failed to kill or capture even one top Taliban commander.
Meanwhile, the Government has yet to announce a full plan for how it will provide services such as courts, policing and health care that will allow the refugees to return home and the Government to fully assert control.
General Nadeem Ahmad, the commander of the Special Support Group, an arm of the Pakistani military that is providing temporary buildings and some food for the displaced, appeared to be sceptical that those aspects could be delivered within what he called an essential one-year time frame. He said he had warned the leaders, "If you don't deliver, it will be trouble. You will come back and do the operation again."
FOR the past six weeks the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach towards the heartland of the country.
Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, which is now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.
All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without much of a fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say.
About 2 million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.
A suicide attack on Friday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir showed the Taliban are able to switch their field of operation within Pakistan. A spokesman for the insurgents said the blast, which hit an army vehicle, killing two soldiers, was in retaliation for military operations against the militants in the north-west.
Hakimullah Mehsud, a spokesman for the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, said: "We warn the Government to stop the operation and air strikes in Waziristan, otherwise we will continue such attacks all over Pakistan."
The Government's reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from Washington, which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.
But the Taliban's decision to scatter leaves the future of Swat, and of Pakistan's overall stability, under continued threat, military analysts say.
Signs abound that the military's campaign in Swat is less than decisive. The military extended its deadline for ending the campaign. Even in the areas where progress has been made, the military controls little more than urban centres and roads, say those who have fled the areas. The military has also failed to kill or capture even one top Taliban commander.
Meanwhile, the Government has yet to announce a full plan for how it will provide services such as courts, policing and health care that will allow the refugees to return home and the Government to fully assert control.
General Nadeem Ahmad, the commander of the Special Support Group, an arm of the Pakistani military that is providing temporary buildings and some food for the displaced, appeared to be sceptical that those aspects could be delivered within what he called an essential one-year time frame. He said he had warned the leaders, "If you don't deliver, it will be trouble. You will come back and do the operation again."
