 The government has decided to give negotiations a chance to secure the release of 240 soldiers including seven officers from the custody of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, a senior government official told a select group of journalists on Thursday.
| They're trying to put off getting their asses handed to them by the Mehsuds again. The Mehsuds, meanwhile, are even more puffed up than usual. Look for their demands to get more extravagant. |
“It is a difficult situation and a different environment. We do not want to inflame the whole area ...
| "Our army sucks. It's only good for handing out guns to jihadis." |
Negotiations are continuing ...
| "We're desperate to come up with some sort of a deal, 'cuz we got nuttin', nuttin' to back up anything we say." |
We need to give some time to political talks,” the official said,
"How much time?"
"30, maybe 40 years." |
...adding that it had been decided at the highest level that the situation was hopeless should not be allowed to aggravate. “But we have all options to get the army men released ... the situation cannot be allowed to linger on.”
| "Certainly not longer than 40 years. That's the absolute tops." |
He said the troops were captured because they “exercised restraint and complacency together”.
| That means they stuck their soft little hands in the air and dropped their guns. |
He said the Americans and NATO forces were failing in Afghanistan because they had insufficient troops and collusion with those who had stakes in drug trafficking and gunrunning.
| This is known as "changing the subject." |
“NATO forces and the Americans cannot succeed in Afghanistan until they take the Taliban on board,” he said.
| We reported 40 turbans dead today. How many did the Pak army account for? |
Without naming any country, the official did not rule out any foreign hand in the suicide bombings in Pakistan and said there were “foreign and local” vested interests that were creating a perception that Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies were not capable of handling the internal security situation.
| They always fall back on that mysterious "foreign hand" to account for their internal troubles with extremists. I doubt they consider the Arabs running operations from Chitral as "foreign hands," which means they're talking, as usual, about India, which for the most part doesn't really give a crap about what goes in in Pakistain - only about what comes oozing out over the line of contraol. |
He said that there was cross-border movement, but it had considerably reduced.
| "Really. It's down to just about nothing. It'll dry up all the way, come the Brutal Afghan Autumn™." |
He linked the suicide bombings with the tribal situation. “The linkages are mostly in NWFP and also in other parts of the country.”
"Which ones?"
"Pretty much all of them." |
He said the government could choke the supplies to the tribal areas but it would be a last resort.
| That won't last long, if they work up the nerve to do it. They'll Think of The Children©. |
He said if the army was not present in the area, the Americans or NATO forces would have moved in to attack militants in the tribal areas.
| Instead of waiting for them to cross into Kunar and Paktia. |
“Doing is the main problem. There are people here who supported the Taliban. Money and ethnic linkages are there. If we do not do it, someone else will do it,” the official said, adding that it was a situation where Pakistan could not refuse to handle the militants.
| Instead, they're pretending to do it. That'll stay the heavy hand of retribution for another few months. |
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