The thing is that most of our saber rattling Pakistanis & Others alike are so disconnected by ground realities that they think that the Pakistan Army can simply waltz into those areas & take out whomsoever they will; whereas I've been to Khyber Agency (where we were having our latest military operation) & I've seen how insanely difficult the terrain is for troop movement over there, how calling the Pak-Afghan Border porous would be a massive disservice to the word porous when one looks at the thousands upon thousands of ravines, gullies & caves that *** the entire 1000 km long border & most of all how its been hell for the Pakistan Army to clear those areas without suffering tremendous casualties & millions of internally displaced people !
Just the Tirah Valley operation in Khyber got a few dozen of our boys martyred despite Tirah being a stone's throw away from the provincial capital of Khyber-Pukhtookhwa (the province that borders Afghanistan) & why because the terrain is hell for our troops whilst the TTP & other such filthh attack us & then melt back into Afghanistan through those same ravines, gullies & caves that they've been operating from. Just the other day I was watching a Pakistan Army documentary on Bajaur (I think) which is another Tribal Agency that was cleared off the TTP & peace restored there & over there they took us into tunnels & caves that went for miles & opened into Afghanistan and a dozen different places into Pakistani Territory.
What we also have to understand is that if the ETIM does indeed have presence in Pakistan than it is surely in North Waziristan - that one agency we still haven't cleared ! The reason, as I understand, is less to do with the moronic ramblings of some of us that the Pakistan Army doesn't give a frig about how many Pakistanis are killed or worse how many of their own soldier's are beheaded & their headless bodies paraded about but more due to :
(i) Logistical Constraints - We're already stretched thin between a destabilized Karachi, a fermenting Baluchistan, the TTP's sanctuaries on the Afghan side through which they routinely cross over into Pakistan & attack even those areas of ours that we've cleared in the past & are consolidating right now (Swat for One where those Tourists were killed & that little girl Malala was shot) & our traditionally security paradigm towards the East where even an Indian politician having stomach problems manages to find a link to the ISI !
(ii) Unfortunately the way we entered into this War & the way we sold it to our own people has left the credibility of both the Army & the Government in deep sh*t; which means that there is enough space out there to peddle certain narratives that the Pakistan Army because its fighting the US War On Terror is little more than a mercenary army & if they've got no qualms over siding with the enemy than Pakistan & Pakistanis & more so here Security Apparatus are to be admonished as best or fought at the very worst & thats exactly what most of our bearded buffooons & their religious parties do & the latter is what the TTP does !
We are therefore, in essence, a house deeply divided against itself & the Army continues to insist in not so many words....unless the Civilian Governments are on board we're not going to take the fall for it simply because there is a segment of our society that has got its priorities deeply.....deeply foOked up ! The last Government unfortunately was, along with being the most corrupt in our 65 year history put together, was also one that just didn't give a foOk - They didn't even pass an Anti-Terrorism Bill for 5 years despite it being there on the Table ! The time around the newer parties seem to be more concerned & there seems to be a thawing in their stance of talking to the TTP because a lot of their own men have started dying at their hands so we just might see more movement on this !
(iii) One has to understand that the Taliban or even its sub-group the TTP is a blanket term for dozens upon dozens of militant organizations that are present in Afghanistan's bordering regions & our Tribal Area of North Waziristan now some of these are fighting against the State of Pakistan, others are fighting against the US and others still are fighting against the Afghan factions in the Government, whilst the rest are simply fighting for the highest bidder ! The US, ever so unfortunately, has lost the war in Afghanistan & the current Afghan Government & its Army doesn't fill any of us with a lot of hope least of all some of the more candid Americans themselves. Therefore Afghanistan is most probably going to descend into another Civil War & Warlordism come 2014 or a few years past that; just like the Soviet backed & armed force that they left behind fell after, unless I'm mistaken, 2 years of the Soviets leaving.
It is imperative, therefore, to not go in without weeding out different Taliban factions from each other lest we end up biting on a lot more than we can possibly hope to chew ! If an operation against the TTP in Waziristan or the ETIM ends up erroneously targeting those Taliban Factions who might hold no love in the hearts for us but aren't butchering our soldiers either were suddenly to turn their guns on us - We'd be foOked ! Especially now that the Americans are about to call it a day & these factions would operate out of Afghanistan with almost certain impunity & without any American airstrikes or Combat Ops having them to be continuously on their toes.
What I think, therefore, is the Pakistan Army's intent right now is to wait it out till 2014 whilst consolidating the areas we have consolidated, do the development work they are doing in those areas so as to stop the flow of teenage boys who get brainwashed into blowing themselves up in our towns & mosques & to ensure that some semblance of stability is brought to Afghanistan so that the blood-shed ends & with it the Jihad Narrative & I do believe the talks with the Taliban by the US facilitated by Pakistan is aimed towards that !
I could, however be terribly wrong about this & its best if someone like @
TaimiKhan @
Xeric or @
Icarus jumps in !
And yes on the Xinjiang issue - I know for a fact that there have been extraditions in the past of Uighur Militants that Pakistan has captured back to China ! And that even religious scholars from Pakistan have been called in to de-radicalise the Uighur in Xinjiang !
I'm sure behind the curtains much goes on that neither you nor I know about otherwise why would China & Pakistan be having such excellent relations with each other if one was either complicit or woefully complacent in taking action against those who attack the other. I believe that the Chinese Executive (Military & Civilian) understand the dynamics of our situation & the predicament we find ourselves in & that is precisely why the cooperation goes on & no acrimonious words have been uttered by Chinese Officials, outside of Xinjiang.
Everybody did that. 
