 Syed Saleem Shahzad of the Asia Times, so salt to taste.
The present bloody infighting between al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal areas is likely to end in reconciliation between the two groups that will mark the beginning of the Taliban's major Afghan offensive.
| Maybe they'll have a Trucefire™! |
| They always reconcile. The question is whether the reconciliation lasts longer than 24 hours. |
Well-placed sources maintain that the chief commander of the Taliban in South Wazirstan, Baitullah Mehsud, was in Afghanistan's Helmand province when the fighting, in which scores have died this week, erupted. He immediately rushed to South Waziristan on the orders of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah. He put his foot down, and the fighting has now eased.
| "Stop that! Stop it this instant!" |
A new protocol is imminent, under which all parties will agree to fight in Afghanistan and not inside Pakistan.
| 'cause you listen to Mullah Dadullah if you value your life, you know ... |
| And they've all agreed, in fact, not to cross the border to fight in Afghanistan, recall... |
How did this internecine strife in South Waziristan evolve?
| Because they're an ignorant, truculent lot? |
Is it just a battle between foreign militants and Pakistani Taliban - a clash of interests - or is it a blessing in disguise for the Taliban and a serious problem for the US-led forces in Afghanistan?
| When the story's being written by somebody with "Syed" in his name, I'll guess that it's a blessing in disguise for the turbans and a serious problem for civilized man. |
There has long been debate within the Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants over strategy in the fight against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and US-led-coalition forces in Afghanistan: Should war be waged against all opponents - including US ally Pakistan - without discrimination, or should political issues be considered, so as to allow for strategic repositioning in future? The Uzbek al-Qaeda-linked militants in South and North Waziristan believe in a global war against NATO and all its allies, such as the Pakistani government. This strategy is now in conflict with that of the Taliban leadership.
| Since that leaves them taking with the right hand and slapping their benefactors with the left. Not that it's in the least unusual in that part of the world, but they try not to be quite so blatant about it until the check's cleared. |
The tension between the two sides broke out into open warfare on Wednesday in South Waziristan, with thousands of Pakistani Taliban dug in against the Uzbek militants and their supporters, believe to number 20,000. So far, at least 110 people have been killed, mostly Uzbeks.
| With 20,000 potential corpses they barely even scratched the surface. |
The fight has isolated the chief of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yaldeshiv. Tahir is the main preacher of the idea that fighting the Pakistan Army is the first priority, and he is violently opposed to any rapprochement between Pakistani Taliban and the army. "The implementation of the sharia [Islamic law] and the appointment of the emir of the sharia emirate are supposed to be the first priority of mujahideen in Pakistan," Yaldeshiv said in a speech now widely available on disc.
"Far, far better that we face the combined NATO-American force to the west and an invigorated Pak army on the east and have the flow of money cut off and the ISI helpers removed from our midst than to ignore an Islamic jot or tittle."
"He said 'tittle'! He must be killed!"
"Oh, shuddup!" |
Should the Taliban be part of a solution for their sympathizers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or a constant problem? That was the debate initiated by Mullah Dadullah when he tried to mediate a ceasefire between Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani military early last year. Dadullah has constantly argued that Pakistani Taliban going into Afghanistan and fighting against NATO forces was a greater service to Afghanistan's cause of freedom than staying in the two Waziristans and fighting Pakistani soldiers.
| "And nobody took us seriously when we pledged not to." |
The dialogue convinced the leading anti-army commanders in North Waziristan, Sadiq Noor and Abdul Khaliq, and they agreed that jihad was only relevant in Afghanistan and that fighting against the Pakistan Army had no relevance to the Afghan resistance. Al-Qaeda elements in North Waziristan, including Uzbeks settled in the town of Mir Ali, were converted to this point of view and broke with Yaldeshiv, who was living in South Waziristan and still demanding the establishment of the Islamic Emirates in Pakistan by waging jihad against "the crusaders' ally".
At present, information coming from South Waziristan suggests that Uzbeks settled in three main points, Shin Warsak, Azam Warsak and Kaloosha, have now in effect been surrounded by local Taliban. The Uzbeks are tenacious fighters, but the most likely outcome will be their surrender and agreement that from now on all fighting will be done in Afghanistan. Such unity of purpose would be a boon for the Taliban's looming offensive against NATO.
| Hard to be unified when you're giving each other angry stares and muttering in your beards. |
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