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.
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By NBC News' Carol Grisanti in Islamabad and Mushtaq Yusufzai in New York
The negotiations took weeks. The tribal council was called to try to convince Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the 42-year-old militant commander of North Waziristan, not to send his fighters to support the Taliban militants in the south.
Elusive and cunning, Gul Bahadar would be a key government ally in any effort to dislodge Taliban militants from the region. The army needed the consent of this bearded, religious scholar before taking on the Mehsuds, a neighboring, but rival tribe, who are loyal Taliban supporters. Without him, there could be no hope of a military success in routing out the militants.
In early September, 27 elders of the Wazir tribes, along with aides of Gul Bahadar, sat down with government representatives in Miranshah, the administrative capital of North Waziristan to work out a deal. Later, the talks moved to Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province.
In the end, the government agreed to most of the tribe’s demands for cooperation; prisoners were exchanged and Gul Bahadar was compensated for losses suffered from U.S. drone attacks and military action in his areas. The tribal council was satisfied, an earlier peace agreement from 2007 was restored, and a feast of roasted goat, rice and sweets was served, according to centuries-old tribal traditions.
"We will not intervene in the Mehsud’s wars," said Maulana Sadiq Noor, deputy to Gul Bahadar, referring to the rival Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan from whom the Taliban militants in Pakistan draw most of their support. "Our people have suffered enough at the hands of the U.S. and the Pakistani governments. We want peace in our lands," he said
Gul Bahadar brought on board his tribal ally, Maulvi Nazir, the commander who holds sway over the border areas of South Waziristan, which encircle the Mehsuds’ strongholds in the center.
"If the government attacks me and my people, then I will reply in the same manner, but I have no interest to intervene between the government and the Mehsuds," Nazir told NBC News.
The Mehsuds were squeezed. The tribes had switched sides. The Wazirs, led by Gul Bahadar and Nazir to the north and west, and the Bhittani tribes to the east, would remain neutral and not prevent the Pakistani Army’s long planned offensive to attack the Taliban militant’s stronghold.
The Wazirs, in contrast to the Mehsuds, have never attacked the state outside of their own lands of Waziristan. Their focus has always been to send fighters across the border to fight the U.S. and NATO in the Afghan jihad.
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By Amna Nawaz, NBC News Producer
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – I came to Pakistan for the olives. I am on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project, and I am working on a story about an agricultural development project launching an olive oil business here.
Pakistan is not in a region normally associated with olives. The Mediterranean Basin comes to mind, as do parts of North Africa and the Middle East.
But olives, as I’ve learned, are a sturdy fruit. There are hundreds of possible cultivars that can grow in dozens of different climates. A little less rain won’t hurt them. A little extra fertilizer won’t ruin an entire crop. There is room for error and less-than-expert knowledge to manage an orchard.
Evidence suggests the olive tree was being cultivated as early as 2500 B.C. in parts of the Mediterranean. So this is a tree that knows how to stick around.
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| Amna Nawaz / NBC News |
| Boxes of olives from a recent harvest in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan sit on a table as personnel discuss the future of the olive project. Since the region is too unsafe for develpoment workers to visit the orchards, the fruit had to be brought to the meeting in Islamabad. |
In the far corners of Pakistan, this is something many people already knew. Wild olive trees have grown for centuries in some of the country’s hardest-to-reach spots.
A recently conducted national survey found the most olive-friendly conditions right along the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan, two of the country’s most troubled regions.
In an effort to try to develop a Pakistan olive industry, a project was started by international investors and a Pakistan agricultural development agency – the Pakistan Oil Seed Development Board. And hope for a new indigenous industry with enormous potential for Pakistan’s economy was ignited.
For the last few weeks, I have been traveling to project sites, speaking with the dedicated agency personnel spearheading the work, as well as community farmers who are taking part in the project. There is cautious excitement at the early signs of success.
There are actually millions of wild olive trees in Pakistan, but they don’t produce the ideal olives for consumption. So farmers are using grafting techniques to create new seedlings using parts of the old trees. Much of the work is still done by hand – from planting, to picking the olives, to pressing them. Once the scale of the project grows, the work is expected to become more mechanized.
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By Amna Nawaz, NBC News Producer
LAHORE, Pakistan – Religious piety isn’t something you normally associate with McDonald’s. But during the holy month of Ramadan, everybody gets into the game.
For one month every year, Muslims around the world fast from dawn-to-dusk during the ninth month on the Muslim lunar calendar. Every day, from sun up to sun down, millions aim to practice restraint by abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking and indulging in anything in excess.
It’s meant to be a time of reflection, modesty, and spirituality, but the mass-market appeal is hard for retailers to ignore.
McDonald’s pushes a dessert deal called "Sweet Blessings." Pizza Hut offers a "Ramadan Special" all-you-can-eat buffet after sundown. Even Dunkin Donuts has a "Ramadan Feast" meal package on its menu.
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| McDonalds's |
| McDonald’s advertises a special dessert deal during the holy month of Ramadan called “Sweet Blessings” as a treat for people breaking their daily fast. |
According to Pakistani writer and blogger Asif Akhtar, corporate marketing teams across all industries latch on to this idea during Ramadan.
"Cell phone companies have Ramadan packages where you can call a certain number and get Quranic verses sent to your phone," said Akhtar. "Radio stations, instead of playing more hip and happening party songs, they start playing more religiously oriented music."
The pressure to adhere to religious practice can be intense. Even those not fasting feel they must at least pretend to fast in public, so as not to incur the wrath of others. One young man in the capital city of Islamabad said that despite the fact that he’s unsure of his faith, and therefore chooses not to fast, he keeps up appearances in public because it’s easier than the alternative.
"Chewing gum in public will get you some dirty looks," he said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. "Drinking water in public may lead someone to say something disapproving or nasty to you. And eating in public? Forget it."
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By Carol Grisanti, NBC News Producer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Miangul Aurangzeb excused himself for being a little hard of hearing, and smiled wistfully.
"I’m happy I am not the ruler today," he said. "It was a no-win situation."
Aurangzeb, an affable octogenarian, is still affectionately known as the "Wali," or ruler, of Swat, even though it has been 40 years since his family was in power.
In 1969, when the Swat Valley was incorporated into Pakistan (more than 20 years after the partition of British India), Aurangzeb’s family kept their hereditary title and their homes – but lost their right to rule.
The Taliban would not have gained control of the idyllic Swat Valley, once known as the Switzerland of Asia, if Swat had remained sovereign and the Wali still ruled – at least that’s Aurangzeb’s view.
Nonetheless, he blames former President Pervez Mushrraf and the United States for the bulk of Pakistan’s troubles with the Taliban.
"They should not have involved Pakistan in Afghanistan’s affairs. If they (the U.S.) wanted to bomb Afghanistan, they could have done it from America," he said.
"Pakistan produced the Taliban to help America throw the Russians out. And then Musharraf stabbed them in the back to please the Americans. Now the Taliban are taking revenge," said Aurangzeb, with a raised voice for added emphasis. "Revenge is a very important factor. They (the Taliban) have been let down by Pakistan."
He claims Musharraf allowed the Taliban to grow in strength in order to frighten President George W. Bush into giving him more money and weapons.
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By Carol Grisanti, NBC News Producer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The guessing games over the fate of Pakistan’s Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud, continue as government officials and Taliban militants exchange verbal duels – challenging each other on national TV to prove that Mehsud is alive or dead.
Accusations on both sides swirl: Top Taliban militant commanders, loyal to Mehsud, allege that Pakistani government officials have known for weeks that Mehsud is seriously ill and under a doctor's care in North Waziristan. So they say that now is a convenient time for the Pakistani government to declare him dead and remove U.S. pressure to go after him.
The government counters that the Taliban are just buying time. They have, they argue, irrefutable intelligence that Mehsud was killed in a U.S drone attack on Aug. 5 in South Waziristan, along with his wife, a brother and some aides at the home of his father-in-law while receiving medical treatment.
Mehsud, 35, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was Pakistan’s enemy Number One. Charismatic and ruthless, he was practically unknown until 2007, when he teamed up with al-Qaida, and banded together at least 13 separate militant groups operating in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.
Mehsud declared himself the leader of an estimated 20,000 fighters and hundreds of suicide bombers, and ruled unopposed until last week, when the drone fired two hellfire missiles and allegedly took him out – or maybe not.
Mehsud had a long history of poor health. Plagued by kidney problems and diabetes, he was reported to have died last year from illness, only to surface again and marry for a second time. Mehsud kept a low profile and rarely spoke to the media. Last week, the news of his death unleashed a flood of rumors, conspiracy theories and media mania.
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By NBC News' Fakhar Rehman
UPPER DIR, Pakistan – "The noose around the Taliban is tightening," said 50-year-old Sirajuddin, the leader of a tribal militia based in Dhogbala, a town in the Upper Dir region of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province. "Our fight will go on to the final victory."
Taliban militants have been pouring into Upper Dir for weeks, fleeing the Pakistan army assault in the adjacent Swat Valley. Sirajuddin, who goes by just one name, said that the army had been bombing the militants’ hideouts in the nearby hills and hit some shops in Dhogbala by mistake. The militants then swarmed down from the mountains, raided the shops and stole all the food.
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| Fakhar Rehman / NBC News |
| Sirajuddin, the leader of a tribal militia fighting the Taliban. |
Sirajuddin, tall and slim with a neatly cropped salt and pepper beard, spoke softly as he explained the militia’s determination to go after the Taliban. But his voice rose in anger and his lips quivered when he recalled the suicide attack by the Taliban on his mosque on June 5.
"Those criminals killed 40 innocent people at prayer, just because they would not support them. We had to bury 12 children that day," said Sirajuddin. "Tell me, what was their crime?"
The next day, after the funerals, 500 villagers gathered at the home of one of their elders and voted unanimously to avenge the deaths from the mosque bombing and go after the Taliban. Sirajuddin volunteered to give up his job as a laborer and lead the militia.
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By Carol Grisanti, NBC News Producer
ISLAMABAD – Pakistanis want to hold President Barack Obama to his word.
"If he does what he says he is going to do, then it will be the beginning of a new era," said Raja Qamar, the cashier at the New Raja Restaurant in Islamabad.
In this simple lunch place in Islamabad on Thursday, a dozen or so diners seemed more interested in eating their lunch then watching the small TV suspended high on a corner wall. The ceiling fans creaked and groaned in a steady hum but were no match for the more than 100 degree heat outside.
When Obama came on the screen, the diners looked up and watched expressionless; most following the Urdu subtitles on the screen – no one stopped eating.
Nasir Mahmood, the restaurant’s only waiter, wiped the sweat from his brow with the same brown towel that he wiped the tables. His customers were coming and going – Obama’s speech was not enough of a draw to keep them inside. But as he took the lunch orders, Mahmood studied the TV.
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As the number of people fleeing fighting in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley reaches nearly 2 million, the race to help those displaced by the worsening war may prove crucial in determining the outcome of the battle. NBC News' Ian Williams reports.
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By NBC News’ Mushtaq Yusufzai
MARDAN, Pakistan – Shaista, a terrified 11-year-old girl from the Swat Valley, was lying in a hospital bed in Mardan’s ill-equipped health center on Friday.
She suffered severe injuries to her legs when an artillery shell, reportedly fired by Pakistani troops, hit her family’s small house Thursday night in Mingora.
The traumatized Shaista said the mortar shell struck a room where she was sleeping. Her voice choking, Shaista said her mother, two sisters and brother were killed in the incident – and then she became lost in deep despair.
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| Mushtaq Yusufzai / NBC |
| Shaista, 11, in her hospital bed in Marden. |
A doctor treating the girl said she seems to lose her memory when speaking and starts to suddenly cry – apparently because of deep shock she suffered.
Children have proved to be some of the hardest-hit victims among the estimated one million people displaced by the ongoing fighting between Pakistan’s armed forces and Taliban militants in the northern districts of Buner and Swat.
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