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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan behind pro-Taliban tribesmen: Telegraph |
| 2007-04-14 |
| President Pervez Musharraf made a tacit admission day before yesterday that the Pakistani military has entered into a marriage of convenience with pro-Taliban tribesmen, says a report in The Daily Telegraph. The tribesmen have been fighting foreign militants linked to Al Qaeda, who are resident in the country. Pakistani military officials had denied direct involvement in fighting between the tribesmen and the foreigners, who have taken shelter in the lawless area of South Waziristan. However, Pakistani commanders have made it clear that they support local militants who are fighting Central Asians, mainly Uzbeks. From an outcrop at Sholam Post overlooking the Wana Valley, Maj Gen Gul Muhammad, commander of the 9th Division at Wana, South Waziristan, pointed out where the Uzbek fighters had been. “We have not got rid of the Uzbeks yet, but they have basically been kicked out of the Wana Valley,” he said. The army’s strategy has been to exploit a feud between the two factions by backing militant leaders, like Mullah Nazir, who is believed to be linked to a senior Taliban warlord, Jalaluddin Haqqani. However, the government has portrayed the fighting, which began nearly a month ago, as an uprising against the Uzbeks, who fled Afghanistan after the American-led invasion in 2001. Gen Musharraf said: “The people of South Waziristan have risen against the foreigners. They have killed about 300 of them, and they got support from the Pakistan Army. They asked for support.” |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 They noticed! Paul will be so pleased. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-04-14 10:39 |