 President General Pervez Musharraf’s claims that the rise of Taliban-like extremism – and not Al Qaeda - is cause for concern in Waziristan is unrealistic, reported the British Broadcasting Corporation. Experts said the Al Qaeda and Taliban were locked in a symbiotic relationship in which a crackdown on the former automatically galvanises the latter. Officials make a clear distinction between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. “We told the Taliban that they have a future as a political entity indigenous to the area, whereas Al Qaeda doesn’t,” a top military source told BBC.
| This is known as subtle thinking in Pak intelligence circles, I suppose. First they claim that they're supporting the U.S. against the Taliban, they tell the Afghans that they're not supporting the Talibs, then they try to distinguish between the Talibs and their owners. Then they make the assumption that there's a circumstance in which the U.S. will allow the Talibs to regain power. Half of the world population's IQ is below 100, by definition. That doesn't mean the lower half is distributed evenly across the globe. |
Experts say this perception allowed a large number of Afghan Taliban and their fellow Al Qaeda fighters to enter Waziristan during the US bombing of the Tora Bora mountain ranges in December 2001. Pakistan said at the time that it had sealed the border to prevent militants hiding in Tora Bora from crossing over into Waziristan.
| And we know now that it wasn't what you'd call a tight seal. |
 But locals tell a completely different story. “Hundreds of Taliban and foreign militants were seen lining up at public baths in Wana and Miranshah in those days,” says Zubair Mehsud, a law professor at Peshawar University. “They would be covered in dirt, some would be injured, others near starvation. They would clean themselves up, arrange for local protection and disappear into the rural areas,” said Mehsud. Wana residents say these refugee militants included Afghan Taliban, Central Asians and Arabs.
| All they did was move to the quiet part of Pashtunistan. The geniuses in Karachi thought they were conserving resources that they were going to need later. |
According to BBC, trafficking in foreign militants was a relatively controlled affair before the September 2001 attacks, “closely monitored and often orchestrated by the Pakistan Army”.
| At that point they still thought they were in charge. |
 “But the sudden influx after the Tora Bora bombing led to a kind of a free-for-all,” said a Wana tribal leader. Swathes of unemployed locals, many of whom had never had connections with the militant networks in Afghanistan, suddenly discovered the lucrative business of harbouring foreign militants.” Grocery stores in towns such as Wana and Miranshah were suddenly overflowing with canned foodstuffs such as tuna fish and mushrooms.
| The roots of terrorism don't lie in poverty, but it's fertilizer for terrorism. |
Military officials don not deny these events - only interpret them differently. “It is impossible to completely seal off Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan along the Waziristan region,” said the military official.
“So when the bombing of Tora Bora drove the militants into Waziristan, a large number of local smugglers and criminals seized it as an opportunity for making money by providing them with shelter and provisions,” he said. “A 20 kilogram sack of sugar worth $10 was sold to the Arabs for as much as $100 in those days,” he added. “This was very different from the culture of hospitality seen during the anti-Soviet war, when militants were housed as honoured guests by the proud tribesmen.”
| They were a different breed of "militants," too. The guys who had fought the Sovs were the Tadjiks and Uzbeks and Hazaras, for the most part. The Pashtun branch of the mujaheddin spent a lot of time in Pakland, intriguing against each other and against Masood. The Taliban weren't even involved in the anti-Soviet war, though some Arabs were. |
 Officials said that for nearly two years between 2002 and 2004, this new breed of “tribal entrepreneurs” acquired a prominence and wealth that they never had before. “Sadly, it was these extortionists that took over the Pakistani Taliban uprising in October last year,” says this official. “They saw an opportunity to cash in on the local anger at the general lawlessness and umpteen gangs of bandits on the prowl and in doing so, assumed the leadership of the Taliban.” He contends that these people are now making fortunes milking the Arabs in the garb of anti-US ideology.
| It wouldn't surprise me if they were playing both ends against the middle. It's kind of a Pashtun tradition, like beating your wife. |
BBC says the new situation presents Pakistan with two policy options: it could declare an indiscriminate war on all foreign militants and their local protectors or it could try to isolate the locals from the foreigners. The government chose the latter.
 | They chose it for a number of reasons, not all of which make sense. One is surely that since the Pak military has never won a war they have no confidence of winning one against the Wazoo hillbillies, who are fearsome of aspect, if not particularly ept at warfare. |
There are many in PakistanÂ’s security apparatus who expect that one day, when the Americans are gone, the Taliban will regain power in Afghanistan. Therefore, they argue, it is essential to have good relations with the Taliban in order for PakistanÂ’s western borders to be secure.
| I would be surprised to see that happen, though I suppose anything is possible under a Democrat administration. I'm sure they'd come up with some sort of justification for doing nothing. |
Few understand the nuances of such policy issues better than local tribesmen.
| I'm not convinced the local tribesmen have a real good comprehension of anything, much less nuances. Ignorance is considered a virtue. |
And many have their own distinct way of putting it. “Making a distinction between Al Qaeda and the Taliban or between good and bad Taliban is like picking white hairs from your beard,” said a Wana tribesman. “No matter how long you do it, the white is eventually going to win.” |