Yesterday Pakistan’s Daily Times issued this report refuting a Wall Street Journal article that claimed the US and Pakistan were planning a joint military offensive against the Haqqani Network:
A military official on Tuesday rejected a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report about a Pakistan-US agreement for a joint operation in North Waziristan.
Coordinated actions on respective sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, being part of routine, should not be mistaken for “joint operations”, the official said.
He further stated that targeted action in operation “Tight Screw” by Pakistan Army against terrorists in the North Waziristan was an ongoing process. This was being undertaken for some months now to squeeze terrorists and there was no new operation as claimed in the report, he added.
When, where and how to carry out operations within our territory is up to Pakistan alone to decide, the official concluded.
Yes, you read that correctly, the Pakistani operation “Tight Screw” is already putting the “squeeze” on the Haqqani Network and other terror groups in North Waziristan, and no US assistance is needed. So we can just relax and assume they are getting the job done, right?
Just five days ago, I wrote about the years of farcical pronouncements by Pakistani officials claiming their military has operations “underway” against terror groups in North Waziristan, and the senior US military officials who blindly pushed Pakistani propaganda about these phantom operations in press conferences. You can read about that here.
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12 Comments
If it’s a purely PAKMIL-run operation to “squeeze terrorists”, then I recommend it be rechristened “Screw Loose.”
LMAO haha we are fighting Pakistan. ISI is Haqani network.
Some days I wonder if I hate Pakistan as much as we hated Germany and Japan in the 40s.
‘Tight Screw’ is what the Paqis have been doing to the US for over a decade, all of course paid for by Uncle Sam. Is their a hidden code of jeer in the Paqi operation for all the money they and their Generals have swallowed?
Hey Pakistan,
Heres a hint. It’s not working. The only ones being screwed are the innocents being killed daily by the Taliban and other militants operating in your supposed territory.
I think we all know just who is getting screwed on this one…
The debate in the comment section of the Pak Trib article is enlightening insofar as gauging local reaction to the correction. Seems that about half are fed up with Pak-Mil ineptitude and impotence and the others are cheerful at any mention of their fearless leaders sticking it to the treacherous Americans. The usual self-righteous indignation about sovereignty is bandied about (a concept that apparently only applies to externally). The paks should enjoy this luxury while it lasts. There will come a time when they will pine for the days when every ill could be blamed on the Americans. Especially when these groups no longer have convenient targets next door to occupy their time and efforts, and instead redirect their rage at the government that has coddled them. I wonder if Syria, with the benefit of hindsight, could offer the Paks a cautionary tale about what happens when you feed vicious dogs. I’m wondering how Assad now feels about looking the other way (or worse), while similar folks poured over his borders to attack American targets of opportunity next-door? A few years down the road, when the Americans are gone, these thugs will look for whoever they can to fight their holy war against. Pakistan will surely get a taste of its own medicine then. It is just a matter of time.
Oh, well…as long as Pakistan has the whole thing under control, no need for us to worry. It’s not like the Pakis have been unreliable, cowardly, do-nothing, allies, who are so in bed with the Taliban and the Haqqanis that it’s laughable.
Maybe we should just go ahead and do ourselves a favour…kill the Taliban and Haqqanis ourselves and pretty much assume that whatever Pakistan says they are going to do…the opposit will occur:)
The US and ISAF can’t even secure their side of the border properly. Just look at all the cross border attacks being staged from Afghanistan into Pakistan. The Pakistan military is well aware of any potential blowbacks a full scale deployment in North Waziristan will have and are right in their execution of Operation Tight Screw. Remember the Pak military has enjoyed more success over a span of several months in sanitizing militants in South Waziristan and Swat then the US and ISAF have in pacifying Afghanistan over the last decade. Adopting the US military’s strategy of shock and awe is not going to work.
Hektor remember Lahore is not just a place in Pakistan. The Pakistani concubine that the US latched onto is now a pretty unattractive, broken, neurotic, ugly, haggard 65.
In my book, that would be a “Loose Screw” rather than a “Screw Loose”. The latter would be Uncle Sam for his continued engagement. You pay your money and you take your choice.
Umm….yeah sure.
A couple of billion land mines on the border with Pakistan would be a start.
Barbed wire, tv cameras, East German border fortification engineers…
How much is bio diesel? It is so expensive to truck fuel into Afghanistan, would it be possible to make it from organic sources in the country? Is there coal? Coal to methanol would it be cheaper than bringing it in from the outside?
Hassan,
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The US and ISAF can’t even secure their side of the border properly. Just look at all the cross border attacks being staged from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
Radio Mullah was in Pakistan and the Pakistani Army didn’t agressively pursue him.
In fact, they went for a truce with him in 2009.
Chronology: The Afghanistan War
February 2009 Peace deal in Swat
The Pakistani government signs a truce with the Taliban in the Swat Valley, allowing them to impose sharia law; in the months leading up to the deal, 3,000 local Taliban militants had been able to keep 12,000 government troops at bay.
Within days, the Taliban in Swat take control of the local government, police and schools, and the number of fighters in the region grows to 8,000. According to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, the local Taliban invites Osama bin Laden to come live in Swat.
Please save the crying about Radio Mullah not being controlled in the badlands of the Afghanistan – Pakistan border. The Pakistani Army had the chance to handle the situation themselves inside Pakistan and declined the opportunity.
Even after Radio Mullah and the Swat Taliban violated the truce, not much happened.
Taliban violates Swat truce
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Remember the Pak military has enjoyed more success over a span of several months in sanitizing militants in South Waziristan and Swat then the US and ISAF have in pacifying Afghanistan over the last decade.
You call this success in South Waziristan?
South Waziristan operation: Only Sararogha cleared in three years
PESHAWAR, Aug 5: Three years after launching Rah-i-Nijat military operation in Mehsud area of South Waziristan Agency, the government has de-notified only one out of six subdivisions as conflict zone in the volatile region since October 2009.
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Adopting the US military’s strategy of shock and awe is not going to work.
Not going to Work?
Oh, you meant that the Pakistani Army isn’t going to do any work in cleaning up NWFP and FATA which is correct.
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The Pro Pakistan supporters are wasting their time and leaving a terrible impression when they do Taqiyya here at the Long War Journal.