Taliban Pull Back From Area Near Pakistan’s Capital (Update2)
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By James Rupert
April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban militants who took control of a district about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Pakistan’s capital have begun pulling back to the northwestern Swat valley, a spokesman for the group said.
Shortly before the pullback was announced, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the country will fight back against extremists.
“We can and will defend Pakistan,” he said in a speech to parliament in Islamabad. “I ask the people to stay hopeful. The government and army are capable enough. If anyone looks at Pakistan with bad intentions, it will be over our dead body.”
Taliban forces have taken advantage of a truce in the Swat valley to challenge government authority in adjacent districts of the North-West Frontier Province. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told GEO television today that guerrillas south of Swat would withdraw by the end of today from Buner, the district where this week they made their closest approach yet to Islamabad.
Extremists who have established sanctuaries in Pakistan’s rugged border areas are eroding security in Afghanistan and threaten “Pakistan’s very existence,” U.S. Army General David Petraeus told a House of Representatives subcommittee in Washington today, echoing comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week that Pakistan is “abdicating” to the guerrillas.
Consulting Parties
Gilani said his government will consult Pakistan’s political parties about the peace accord, under which Pakistan agreed to introduce Islamic law in Swat and six adjacent districts. Pakistan’s main opposition leader, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, told reporters the conference also should include the judiciary, representatives of civil-society groups and the military.
“We have to solve these ailments and we have to do it soon,” Sharif said. “This should be done within days.”
President Barack Obama last month outlined a plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan that would bring together neighboring states, U.S. allies and other countries that have a stake in the security of the region.
Pakistan is “a country that has nuclear weapons,” Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NBC’s “Today Show.” In the long run, more turmoil in the country could give “us the worst possible outcome there,” he said.
Vow From Army
Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, told a meeting of senior officers that the military wouldn’t allow Islamic militants to displace the government, GEO television reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Pakistan’s army, which has ruled the country for 32 of its 61 years of independence, dominates national security policy.
The five-year-old Taliban insurgency has spread from isolated mountains along the border with Afghanistan to take over Swat, a former tourist destination north of Islamabad.
Amid the truce, the Taliban moved fighters this week from Swat into the hilly farming district of Buner. That move put them close to the capital, across the Indus River and a range of mountains.
In Buner, the guerrillas killed policemen who opposed them and took control of roads and markets, barring women from appearing in public. Taliban members also advanced into Shangla district, east of Swat, and were patrolling streets in its villages, GEO television reported yesterday.
More Troops
Pakistan sent 113 paramilitary policemen from its Frontier Constabulary into Buner to protect police stations from the Taliban, AFP reported, citing local police official Rasheed Khan. Other Frontier Constabulary reinforcements were planned, he said.
Pakistan is also sending several hundred members of its Frontier Corps, another paramilitary force, to Buner, Petraeus said in an interview after his subcommittee testimony.
The deployment “is an indication of the degree to which the government takes this seriously, but it’s going to take much more than that, needless to say,” Petraeus said.
The provincial government promised to implement Islamic law “as soon as possible,” and urged militants to disarm, as provided in the truce deal. “Implementation can take time,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for North-West Frontier Province, told reporters in Peshawar, the provincial capital.
Taliban guerrillas began leaving Buner today after a visit there by Sufi Muhammad, a militant religious leader who is mediating between the government and the insurgents, Pakistan’s Express 24/7 television news channel reported.
‘Mortal Threat’
Clinton said this week that the deterioration in Pakistan poses a “mortal threat” to the safety of the U.S. and the world. Obama has focused on keeping the Taliban, al-Qaeda and allied militants from using their strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan as bases to plot attacks on the U.S.
“The stability and longevity of democratic government in Pakistan is central to the efforts of the coalition in Afghanistan,” Gates told reporters at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, according to a transcript. “We want to be helpful in any way we can. But it is important that they recognize the real threats to their country.”
The peace accord calls for religious courts, under government-appointed judges, to enforce Islamic law in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, which include the districts of Swat, Buner, Chitral, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Malakand. The accord was aimed at ending fighting in Malakand and in Swat, a mountain valley where militants have burned schools, banned education for girls and beheaded government officials.
“The news over the past several days is very disturbing,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington yesterday. “The administration is extremely concerned.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in New Delhi at 2024 or [email protected].
Last Updated: April 24, 2009 12:24 EDT
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By James Rupert
April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Taliban militants who took control of a district about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Pakistan’s capital have begun pulling back to the northwestern Swat valley, a spokesman for the group said.
Shortly before the pullback was announced, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the country will fight back against extremists.
“We can and will defend Pakistan,” he said in a speech to parliament in Islamabad. “I ask the people to stay hopeful. The government and army are capable enough. If anyone looks at Pakistan with bad intentions, it will be over our dead body.”
Taliban forces have taken advantage of a truce in the Swat valley to challenge government authority in adjacent districts of the North-West Frontier Province. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told GEO television today that guerrillas south of Swat would withdraw by the end of today from Buner, the district where this week they made their closest approach yet to Islamabad.
Extremists who have established sanctuaries in Pakistan’s rugged border areas are eroding security in Afghanistan and threaten “Pakistan’s very existence,” U.S. Army General David Petraeus told a House of Representatives subcommittee in Washington today, echoing comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week that Pakistan is “abdicating” to the guerrillas.
Consulting Parties
Gilani said his government will consult Pakistan’s political parties about the peace accord, under which Pakistan agreed to introduce Islamic law in Swat and six adjacent districts. Pakistan’s main opposition leader, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, told reporters the conference also should include the judiciary, representatives of civil-society groups and the military.
“We have to solve these ailments and we have to do it soon,” Sharif said. “This should be done within days.”
President Barack Obama last month outlined a plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan that would bring together neighboring states, U.S. allies and other countries that have a stake in the security of the region.
Pakistan is “a country that has nuclear weapons,” Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NBC’s “Today Show.” In the long run, more turmoil in the country could give “us the worst possible outcome there,” he said.
Vow From Army
Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, told a meeting of senior officers that the military wouldn’t allow Islamic militants to displace the government, GEO television reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Pakistan’s army, which has ruled the country for 32 of its 61 years of independence, dominates national security policy.
The five-year-old Taliban insurgency has spread from isolated mountains along the border with Afghanistan to take over Swat, a former tourist destination north of Islamabad.
Amid the truce, the Taliban moved fighters this week from Swat into the hilly farming district of Buner. That move put them close to the capital, across the Indus River and a range of mountains.
In Buner, the guerrillas killed policemen who opposed them and took control of roads and markets, barring women from appearing in public. Taliban members also advanced into Shangla district, east of Swat, and were patrolling streets in its villages, GEO television reported yesterday.
More Troops
Pakistan sent 113 paramilitary policemen from its Frontier Constabulary into Buner to protect police stations from the Taliban, AFP reported, citing local police official Rasheed Khan. Other Frontier Constabulary reinforcements were planned, he said.
Pakistan is also sending several hundred members of its Frontier Corps, another paramilitary force, to Buner, Petraeus said in an interview after his subcommittee testimony.
The deployment “is an indication of the degree to which the government takes this seriously, but it’s going to take much more than that, needless to say,” Petraeus said.
The provincial government promised to implement Islamic law “as soon as possible,” and urged militants to disarm, as provided in the truce deal. “Implementation can take time,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister for North-West Frontier Province, told reporters in Peshawar, the provincial capital.
Taliban guerrillas began leaving Buner today after a visit there by Sufi Muhammad, a militant religious leader who is mediating between the government and the insurgents, Pakistan’s Express 24/7 television news channel reported.
‘Mortal Threat’
Clinton said this week that the deterioration in Pakistan poses a “mortal threat” to the safety of the U.S. and the world. Obama has focused on keeping the Taliban, al-Qaeda and allied militants from using their strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan as bases to plot attacks on the U.S.
“The stability and longevity of democratic government in Pakistan is central to the efforts of the coalition in Afghanistan,” Gates told reporters at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, according to a transcript. “We want to be helpful in any way we can. But it is important that they recognize the real threats to their country.”
The peace accord calls for religious courts, under government-appointed judges, to enforce Islamic law in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, which include the districts of Swat, Buner, Chitral, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Malakand. The accord was aimed at ending fighting in Malakand and in Swat, a mountain valley where militants have burned schools, banned education for girls and beheaded government officials.
“The news over the past several days is very disturbing,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington yesterday. “The administration is extremely concerned.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in New Delhi at 2024 or [email protected].
Last Updated: April 24, 2009 12:24 EDT
