Pakistan’s military braces for a ‘long-drawn haul’
Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 11:25 AM
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Islamabad, Pakistan
By Stephanie Gosk, NBC News Correspondent
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the spokesman for Pakistan’s military, calls South Waziristan the "center of gravity" for terrorism in this country and a sanctuary for both Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
The Pakistani military took foreign and local journalists on a guided tour of South Waziristan on Thursday, the first look inside the lawless area since the military launched a major ground offensive there in mid-October.
During the tour, journalists were shown two passports with alleged links to 9/11 suspects that the military says were recovered in a small Taliban outpost in the town of Sherwangai.
One passport allegedly belonged to German citizen Said Bahaji who is thought to have lived with 9/11 leader Mohammed Atta in Hamburg. Another Spanish passport had the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia. She is believed to be married to Amer Azizi, a Moroccan terrorist suspect who has been linked to both the September 11th attacks and the Madrid bombings.
U.S. officials regularly criticize the Pakistani government for not aggressively pursuing al-Qaida within its borders and on her first trip to Pakistan as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has been blunt about voicing that criticism. She told a group of local reporters on Thursday, "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to."
But Pakistani officials say the ongoing battle in South Waziristan is proof of their determination to confront the terrorism threat directly. It follows a similar and successful operation launched last May in the Swat valley.
Major ground assaultFor nearly two weeks 28,000 Pakistani soldiers have been battling an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 militants, including seasoned foreign fighters from Uzbekistan and members of the Afghan Taliban. The militants have pulled out of low-lying towns and set up positions on towering ridges that in some places are as high as 7,000 feet.
Pakistani commanders say the fighters have left the valleys booby-trapped with land mines and roadside bombs, and that the mountaintop hideouts are stockpiled with advanced weaponry. In Sherwangai, reporters were shown a cache of weapons left behind by the Taliban when they fled the scene including rocket propelled grenades, mortars, automatic weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
On two separate fronts, military units are making steady progress towards the Taliban strongholds of Makeen and Sararogha. Gen. Rabbani Khaled said the goal is to "clear them, dismantle the infrastructure and destroy as many as possible."
The two highest profile targets are Taliban leaders Hakimullah Mehsud and Mulana Waliur Rehman, who, according to Abbas, are still commanding troops from within South Waziristan.
Standing on a ridge overlooking the town of Kotkai, home to Hakimullah Mehsud and notorious suicide bomb instructor Qazi Hussein, Abbas told the media, "The importance of this operation is to roll up, deny this space, take it away from them … deny them the freedom of action that they had in this area."
For years, militants have taken advantage of this semi-autonomous region, largely cut-off from Pakistan’s central government to organize, manufacture suicide bombs and train with impunity. Abbas said eliminating their "sanctuary" will have a "huge effect" on the security of the country.
Pakistanis are reeling from a month of deadly attacks that have left hundreds of people dead. On Wednesday a devastating car bomb blew up in a crowded market in the northern town of Peshawar, killing more than 100, many of the victims were women and children. It was the worst attack in this country in two years.
But when asked how fast the country could expect an improvement in the security situation, Abbas would not give a timeline. Instead he said Pakistanis should expect, "a long-drawn haul."
