Taliban moves to expand control in Pakistan

THE STANS

Afghan insurgents focus on south: US general
The vast majority of attacks by Afghan insurgents are concentrated in the country's south, where US reinforcements are due to deploy in coming months, a senior US officer said on Wednesday. "The insurgent activities are obviously in the south, probably about 80 percent of them are in the south right now," General Michael Tucker, deputy chief of staff for operations for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, told reporters by video link. Violence meanwhile in the eastern region near the Pakistani border had declined compared to last year, Tucker said. "We are approaching what you could actually cautiously call irreversible momentum in the east," he said. He attributed the progress to additional US forces in the area, aid efforts and military operations by the Pakistani army on the other side of the border. "We have a combination of the right amount of forces in RC (regional command) east now to cover the area," he said. The US general added that "activities the Pakistani army has had" in the Bajuar province and elsewhere have helped reduce insurgent activity in the eastern region. But he said in the south, NATO at the moment lacked enough combat troops to turn the tide against the Taliban and associated groups. "In RC south, we are at a stalemate," Tucker said. "We simply don't have enough forces to address the needs of the people down there, to set the conditions for governance to take hold and so the enemy is obviously taking advantage of that posture that we are going to be addressing very shortly," he said, referring to the planned deployment of more US troops. US President Barack Obama has approved 17,000 additional combat troops for the Afghan war, as well as 4,000 troops assigned to train Afghan security forces. The reinforcements are expected to be stationed mainly in the volatile south, a bastion for the Taliban and its allies.

US military chief arrives in Pakistan: embassy
The top US military commander arrived in Islamabad Wednesday for meetings with Pakistan government officials, a US embassy official said. Admiral Michael Mullen's second visit in just two weeks to the country, a frontline state in the US-led battle against Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked extremism, follows his arrival with Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, on April 6. "Admiral Mullen arrived in Islamabad late today for scheduled meetings with Pakistan government officials," US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor told AFP Wednesday. Mullen met army chief General Ashfaq Kayani in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, neighbouring Islamabad, after his arrival. "Admiral Mullen exchanged views with General Kayani on matters of mutual interest including ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and US in the war against terror," a military official said on condition of anonymity. The spokesman, however, declined to comment on the further movements of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or whom else he would be meeting. US officials say northwest Pakistan has degenerated into a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border. Extremists opposed to the Pakistani government's decision to side with the United States in its battle with militancy have carried out a series of bombings and other attacks that have killed nearly 1,700 people in less than two years. Mullen's latest visit to Pakistan came hours after Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley moved into northwestern Buner district in a bid to broaden their control, despite a deal designed to end extremist violence. The militants have set up checkpoints, occupied mosques and ransacked the offices of non-governmental organisations in Buner, only 110 kilometres (68 miles) from the capital Islamabad.

by Staff Writers
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) April 22, 2009
Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have moved into another district in a bid to broaden their control despite a deal designed to end extremist violence, officials said Wednesday.

Hundreds of armed Taliban from the scenic northwestern valley have entered Buner district, only 110 kilometres (68 miles) from the capital Islamabad.

The militants have set up checkpoints, occupied mosques and ransacked the offices of non-governmental organisations, a local official said.

A Taliban commander said they would set up strict Islamic sharia courts in Buner as they have already done in Swat but would not interfere with police work.

Indications of a spread of Taliban activism has fuelled criticism of an accord agreed by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month to allow sharia courts in Swat, which the United States said amounted to capitulation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday Taliban advances posed "an existential threat" to Pakistan and urged Pakistanis worldwide to oppose the deal.

Pakistanis "need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the insurgents," Clinton said, underscoring "the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing (Taliban) advances, now within hours of Islamabad".

US President Barack Obama is to welcome Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in early May, an administration official said Wednesday.

Obama is to meet with the neighboring leaders separately and then the three will take part in a summit May 6 and 7, the Washington Post reported.

Pakistan's central government lost control in Swat, a former ski resort and jewel in the crown of Pakistani tourism, after a violent two-year militant campaign to enforce strict sharia law.

It agreed to allow sharia courts in Malakand, a district of some three million people in North West Frontier Province that includes the Swat valley, in order to halt the violence.

"The Taliban who have arrived from Swat have increased patrolling, banned music in public transport and rampaged (through the) offices of NGOs and taken their vehicles," said the local official, Rashid Khan.

"Taliban militants armed with rocket launchers were manning the checkpoints and operating from local mosques," he said.

Khan said militants had so far snatched 16 NGO vehicles and looted milk and oil aid supplies meant for use in the area.

Provincial governor Owais Ghani expressed his "deep anguish on the criminal activities including kidnappings, looting and car hijackings," an official statement said.

"The government's policy of restraint has been mistaken for weakness by criminal elements," the statement quoted the governor as saying, adding that the local administration would use an "iron hand" to deal with militants.

One Taliban commander said his men in Buner would set up an FM radio station and Islamic courts in the mountainous town.

"We will soon establish our radio station. Our Qazis (Islamic judges) will also start holding courts in Buner soon," Mohammad Khalil told AFP.

"We will not interfere in the police work, they can continue their job," he said.

Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman, told AFP from Swat that "the government writ is not being challenged" in Buner and that the Taliban were not creating problems for the administration there.

"The Taliban will leave Buner after enforcement of the Islamic justice system," he said.

However, several residents said they felt "scared" and planned to leave the area, fearing similar violence to that seen in Swat.

The High Court in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, has ruled that all courts will remain closed in Buner until May 2 in view of the "law and order situation", a court official told AFP.

Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the government had fulfilled its promises in Malakand, adding: "The Taliban must lay down their arms."

The developments in Buner coincided with arrival of the chairman US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Michael Mullen to Islamabad for meetings with the government officials.

burs-jaf/ft

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THE STANS

Mullen warns no quick US victory in Afghanistan

Kabul (AFP) April 22, 2009
The top US military commander warned Wednesday that Americans cannot expect a swift victory over the Taliban and Al-Qaeda despite the imminent deployment of 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.

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