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NWFP/FATA map. Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; yellow under threat. Click map to view. |
Checkpoints set up to enforce sharia in the latest agency signed over to the Pakistani Taliban
Less than two months after the Pakistani government negotiated with the Taliban in Bajaur, the Taliban have openly flexed their muscles in the troubled tribal agency. On Satuday, “militants,” described as Taliban but very likely the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi [TNSM – the Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad’s Sharia Law], or Pakistani Taliban, set up check points and harassed the locals for not being sufficiently Islamic. The TNSM deployed over 250 fighters along the roads in Bajaur, at one point no less than 3 miles from Khar, the agency headquarters. “Local authorities allegedly made no attempt to deal with the threat,” reported Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
TNSM fighters openly carried assault rifles as they confiscated tape decks, audio cassettes, CDs, videos cell phones and cameras. “Zahidullah Khan, a driver, told Dawn that the masked men forced passengers without beard to leave vehicles in Baddi Saya and Umari areas and warned them of ‘strict action’ if they did not grow beard… In Inayat Kali [the town 3 miles from Khar], residents said a large group of people carrying automatic assault rifles had warned owners of music centres to wind up their business and the owners had started removing CDs and cassettes from their shops.”
TNSM is a banned terrorist movement inside Pakistan, and has been implicated in terrorist activity inside the country, including a suicide attack on Pakistani Army training base in Dargai in the Northwest Frontier Province in October of 2006. The attack killed over 45 soldiers. Faqir Mohammad, a leader in the TNSM, has sheltered none other than Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command. An attack in Damadola in January of 2006 on Faqir’s compound was aimed at Zawahiri, but killed upwards of 5 senior al Qaeda leaders, including Abu Khabab al-Masri, al Qaeda’s chief of its weapons of mass destruction program.
Last October, an airstrike on the Chingai madrassa, which doubled as a Taliban training camp, killed up to 84 Taliban, including Liaquat Hussain, the leader of the madrassa, and Faqir’s deputy. The attack came just days before the expected signing of the Bajaur Accord in October of 2006. Days before the Chingai raid, Faqir openly praised al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Faqir referred to bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar as “heroes of the Muslim world,” and he vowed joint efforts to fight the “enemies of peace” in the Bajaur Agency. Faqir calls the United States the enemy of peace.
Under the leadership of Faqir Mohammed and his TNSM, Bajaur has become an al Qaeda command and control center which is used to launch operations into eastern Afghanistan. Kunar, the Afghan province which borders Bajaur, is one of the most violent in Afghanistan.
The open demonstration of power by the TNSM only serves to highlight the utter failure of the Bajaur Accord, and the Waziristan Accord which preceded it. The TNSM/Taliban and al Qaeda have consolidated their power in the tribal, and continue to openly flaunt their power, while the Pakistani government stands aside and encourages further “peace deals.”
9 Comments
The Pashtuns whose property was seized and destroyed now have a grievance, and must have revenge. It’s the Pashtun Way.
A Pashto-fluent team of American operators, Afghan scouts and trustworthy Frontier Corps should be talking to the khan of the khel and stirring up some red on red action.
Like the way you think Cannoneer, like the way you think, from Phillipines to Pashtunland, let it be so.
Yes, that’s the way of it. The ones who were threatened for not having beards have had their honor challenged as well.
Trackbacked by The Thunder Run – Web Reconnaissance for 05/07/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
Hey, just read Worldwidestandard.com that Bill was interviewed yesterday by CNN. Curious how it went and if anyone captured the interview online.
You know, ceding territory for vague promises of loyalty didn’t work for the Romans, and it’s not going to work for Musharraf. If he doesn’t get his act in gear, he may soon find himself fleeing for the last jet out of Islamabad.
Cannoneer, how we wish that there was a huge surplus of Pashtun-fluent operatives, sympathetic to the forces of rationality, whom we could call upon in times like this.
Unfortunately, with decades of misplaced and overwhelming emphasis on sigint over humint, this is not the case.
This sorry state of affairs has come about under BOTH Republican and Democratic administrations.
>> If he doesn’t get his act in gear, he may soon find himself fleeing for the last jet out of Islamabad.
Dear Mr. Roggio: I’ve only just arrived from Neptunus Lex and am pleased to make your aquaintance. However, I am disturbed that more of your insightful reporting has not made it to the mainstream media. More and more it appears that we at home only hear of lack of successes, casualties, and lack of support by politicians and civilians alike. The same is true here in Canada. All our Troops have my unwavering support, as I strongly feel that now is not the time for historians, politicians or political pundits to be debating why the Troops are deployed or when they should return. I look forward to visiting this site often in the future.