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Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

is it so that PA wants them to clear off Paksitani territory and is sending a signal that operations against them will cease if they were to head towards afghanistan instead?
I don't know anything, but I have a guess based on an analogy: during the American Civil War we had an excellent and popular general by the name of McClellan. He could defeat Confederate armies, but then he'd let them escape rather than destroy them. He was insubordinate to his president and was removed from high command, but remained just popular and professional enough for President Lincoln to keep him in the Army - he proved indispensable at protecting Washington from rebel attack.

Yet as time passed and the next election approached he ran for president - in opposition to the president he was serving - on an anti-war platform promising to end the bloody war by accepting the Confederacy and negotiating a settlement, holding himself as the man who was strong enough to do it - and more clever and effective in war than the president he served, who obviously must be messing things up because the war had lasted so long.

McClellan very nearly won the 1864 presidential election, and after the Civil War he did win an election and became governor of New Jersey.

The point is, we may be seeing something similar here, some quite general or politician messing things up just enough so the Taliban War gets drawn out so he can offer himself up to the country as the next natural leader. There wouldn't even have to be a coup...
 
Simplistic assumptions about some sort of 'bull in a china shop' campaign, after reading about the use of airstrikes and artillery, are not helpful.

There are actually way too many simplistic assumptions being shouted here without the slightest bit of information. Allegations of "blind use of force" is one example, and all this talk of "letting the terrorists escape" is another. With details not released and the operation on-going, we have all these "defence analysts" dissecting the operation as if it were from the second world war. All this crap about the "baloon effect" and what not, its like writing a movie review after watching the teaser trailer, and that too only half.

Thanks, Agnostic, for stating what was on my mind. People are grabbing at straws to malign the operation, and when they can't find anything, they're inventing garbage.
 
There are actually way too many simplistic assumptions being shouted here without the slightest bit of information. Blind use of force is one example, and all this talk of "letting the terrorists escape" is another. With details not released and the operation on-going, we have all these "defence analysts" dissecting the operation as if it were from the second world war. All this crap about the "baloon effect" and what not, its like writing a movie review after watching the teaser trailer, except, even dumber.

Thanks, Agnostic, for stating what was on my mind. People are grabbing at straws to malign the operation, and when they can't find anything, they're inventing garbage.

I agree.
Plus do note that war is deception.

If i have brigades surrounding an area and instead give a false hope to militants to retreat into safety...i may well be luring them into a trap where i can better hammer them.

As i said earlier...it actually suits TTP to make a stand in the urban areas instead of running to their strongholds, maybe PA wants to give the exit option to the militants in order to take them on in a more kinetic theater of action where the advantage of Air Force, gunships, tanks and artillery come into play.

Forward deployment of SSG and insertion of heliborne troops does point to a much more serious action than has been witnessed before.
We cannot pass judgment on PA till some details are given to us and reports are made public.
I will once again say that number of troops can be much more than 20,000.

Why should i bluff about my intent?...because it is part of WAR.
 
There will be stashes made within Swat region for example, once the militants decide to melt into the local populance. These are impossible to unearth given the nature of terrain. As such, at a conducive time, the insurrection will again start in a diffuse and sustained patter

OTOH I agreew ith Solomons contention, they just might shift into interior regions of Pakistan and take on a role of urban terror a grim prospect for people of Pakistan.

the stashes are what the commandos are going after read the article and the most important point is that initially they welcomed the taliban because they didnt say anyting to anyone the same happened in waziristan and in bajaur but in all three cases when people got sick of them and went to their elders the taliban would eliminate the elders and so there would be no other source of authority people could turn to against the taliban but now that there is such deep hatred the people who were in the taliban might still be there but with no suppourt their insurgency will not last
 
i have posted this article in another thread but it would be better if i do it here as well.


May 13, 2009

Pakistan drops hundreds of commandos in Taleban's Swat strongholds


Zahid Hussain in Islamabad
Hundreds of Pakistani commandos were dropped by helicopter into a mountainous Taleban stronghold in the Swat district yesterday as the Army stepped up its campaign to root out the militants’ top commanders.

Members of the counter-insurgency force landed behind the front line in the Piochar region, about 40 miles from Mingora, the main city in the Swat Valley.

It was the first time that such forces had been involved in fighting since the military offensive began in the valley more than a week ago. “It signifies a major shift in the fighting,” Major-General Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman, said.

Previous military action has tended to peter out without the capture or deaths of leading insurgents. Past stalemates brought criticism, particularly from the country’s American allies, that the Army was not pursuing the Taleban hard enough. This time, Pakistani leaders say, the Army will not rest until it has wiped out all militants.

The offensive has won praise even from the US. According to the Pakistani officials, there are about 5,000 Taleban militants fighting 15,000 regular government troops in what is being described as the biggest counter-insurgency operation that Pakistan has undertaken since 2001.

Piochar, 10,000ft (3,050m) above sea level, is regarded as the main base for the militants. “The troops have surrounded the terrorist camps and are closing in on the militants’ command centre,” General Abbas said. Among them, the general said, was Mullah Fazalullah, the leader of the Swat insurgency, and some of his top commanders. “Our main strategy is to block the free movement of the militants and eliminate the entire leadership.”

The army claims that 751 militants have been killed in Swat and neighbouring districts so far, with 29 soldiers dead. But the figures could not be verified independently.

Government forces have been using heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets to pound Taleban positions but this has forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee the area.

The Army launched a full-scale assault on the Swat Valley and the surrounding districts last week after Taleban militants tried to extend their influence to areas only 65 miles from the capital, Islamabad, on the back of a peace deal that handed them control of the region.

Government ground and air forces are also operating in the neighbouring districts of Buner and Lower Dir, turning a large swath of the northwestern region into a battle zone.

Mullah Fazalullah, the long-haired, 34-year-old cleric also known as Mullah Radio for his fiery broadcasts from a pirate station, had declared holy war against the Pakistani Government, calling it un-Islamic.

His hardline brand of Sharia, briefly established in Swat, banned music and education for girls, and his followers destroyed hundreds of girls’ schools.

Although Swat does not border Afghanistan, Mullah Fazalullah has pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of Afghanistan’s Taleban movement. Pakistan says that he has close links to al-Qaeda, and many foreign fighters are believed to have joined the battle for Swat.

The commandos sent to Piochar have been trained under a new programme for fighting in the region’s tough mountainous terrain. They have joined the Frontier Corps, a once neglected Interior Ministry force that now has millions of dollars in American funding and training with some British assistance.

It is believed to have been very effective in recent assaults on the Taleban in Buner and the tribal region of Bajaur. However, Government forces have yet to start the bloody business of “hardcore” urban warfare to retake towns seized by the militants.

“This is going to be a difficult battle because hundreds of thousands of people are still trapped inside \ and militants are using them as shields,” General Abbas said. In Mingora the Taleban are said to have taken up positions in residential areas and to have mined the main roads.

General Abbas indicated that the fighting could last for months, adding that the army was heading towards Mingora from two directions. Military spokesmen said yesterday that the number displaced in the region had risen to 1.3 million, including half a million who fled fighting in Bajaur last year. Aid workers have expressed concerns at the poor levels of water, food and medical supplies.

President Zardari called on the international community last night to help refugees driven from their homes by the fighting. “They are losing their crops, they’re losing their earnings, their livelihood and their homes, so we want the world to help us,” he said.

The UN’s World Food Programme said that it was doubling its shipments of emergency food to the new refugees but warned that more funds were needed. “We need the international donor community to quickly step forward with donations to avoid any interruptions in food distributions,” said Wolfgang Herbinger, WFP’s representative in Pakistan.

Most-wanted leaders

Shah Doran A firebrand orator, he would read out the names of people to be killed on Taleban-run FM radio. He has been blamed for murdering Pakistani soldiers

Muslim Khan The chief spokesman of the Taleban in Swat, returned to Pakistan in 2002 after spending four years in the US as a construction worker. He was blamed for ordering the deaths of people accused of being informants for the military

Bin Yamin One of the fiercest Taleban commanders, is blamed for attacks on Pakistan’s Army. His brother was also a militant commander

Pakistan drops hundreds of commandos in Taleban's Swat strongholds - Times Online
 
COAS directs troops to ensure local population safety
Updated at: 1527 PST, Wednesday, May 13, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Chief Of Army Staff(COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani has instructed the Army to ensure minimum collateral damage even at the expense of taking risks, by resorting to precision strikes.

According to statement issued by ISPR, Pakistan Army is acutely aware of the nature of ongoing operations in Swat and elsewhere, and their likely fallouts.

Consequent to any military operation in populated areas, collateral damage and IDP issues are always a natural outcome. In fact the overall success of operations in such areas is a sum total of the three efforts i.e conduct of military operations, minimizing collateral damage and correctly managing IDPs.

COAS said that management of IDPs is as important as military operation in Swat. It has been decided to provide all out support to Government and International Agencies in the management and rehabilitation of IDPs.

For the first time in its history, Pakistan Army has taken a decision to give part of its daily ration items of daily food; Atta, Sugar, Ghee and Dhall to these IDPs. This exemplifies the Army’s spirit of sacrifice.

The food items so provided will be able to daily feed about 80,000 adults. Furthermore, Army is deploying its medical resources in all the IDPs camps. These medical camps will have adequate medicines for 90 days. Local Military Hospitals will also go on surge to treat patients.
COAS directs troops to ensure local population safety - GEO.tv
 
11 militants killed in Swat: military
Updated at: 1729 PST, Wednesday, May 13, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 11 more militants during the past 24 hours in fresh strikes on militants’ positions in restive Swat valley, Inter-Services Public Relation said on Wednesday.

A key militant commander, Naseeb Khan, is also among dead in the latest offensive, it said.

In a handout issued here, the ISPR said that four soldiers were martyred and 12 others wounded in the fighting.

Meanwhile, security forces have taken complete control of Peochar area, believed to be a stronghold of Taliban militants.

ISPR further said that “Security forces have also taken positions in Benai Baba shrine and Brem Bridge.”
11 militants killed in Swat: military - GEO.tv
 
@rokhanyousafzai

i remember u were asking for when will army go to waziristan.

http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakistans-war/26577-strating-new-operation-wasiristan.html

thanks bro if true it means the taliban will cease to exist within pakistani terroritory i always wanted to hear this news because mehsud is responsible for most of the suicide attacks. It wouldnt of mattered how successful swat was if waziristan is still out of order it doesnt matter we will still be hit by suicide attacks but it all depends on how smooth swat and buner go InshAllah our sucess there will allow us to move to clear them from a much tougher waziristan i do think though that army suppourt isnt there as much so it is a worry
 
Saad Rafique of PML(N) on Express TV "We do not support military operation....army is just killing ordinary men women and kids.......We were not taken into confidence before launching this operation....how you justify it? If Mulvi Sufi breaks deal/promise you bomb his valley and when Musharaf breaks Constitution you give him Guard of Honor.....
These bastards should be hanged.
 
Saad Rafique of PML(N) on Express TV "We do not support military operation....army is just killing ordinary men women and kids.......We were not taken into confidence before launching this operation....how you justify it? If Mulvi Sufi breaks deal/promise you bomb his valley and when Musharaf breaks Constitution you give him Guard of Honor.....
These bastards should be hanged.

yes yesterday nawaz sharif said he fully backs military operation. Ch. Nisar said the same thing.
 
He could defeat Confederate armies, but then he'd let them escape rather than destroy them...we may be seeing something similar here, some general or politician messing things up just enough so the Taliban War gets drawn out so he can offer himself up to the country as the next natural leader...
From today's Washington Post:
As Petraeus envisages reconciliation with the Taliban, it will happen village by village, across Afghanistan's nearly 400 districts, rather than in a big sit-down with the group's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. That's the campaign plan, but there are several problems. The first is that next door is the powder keg of Pakistan. Petraeus wants to coordinate with the Pakistani commander, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, so that retreating Taliban fighters will be cut off by Pakistani troops. But Kiyani remains wary of the American embrace.
 
From today's Washington Post:

i dont blame him to be honest its good to have people in our military pursuing our interests unlike musharaf ironic in a way since musharaf bought him in but we have to have our own policy, afghanistan is much more different to pakistan and frankly the pakistani govt is not happy being put on the same level as them
 
Editorial: Going after the terrorists in Swat

May 14, 2009

As the Pakistan army landed commandos into the safe haven of Maulana Fazlullah in Peochar Valley in the Swat area, the National Assembly lined up behind the military operation. The PPP, ANP, MQM, PMLN, and Independents debated Operation Rah-e-Haq (Four) and were of the opinion that it should be pursued till the end of the Taliban terrorists to avoid a national disaster. For understandable reasons, the JUI kept out of the discussion.

Independent surveys tell the same story. Over 70 percent people in Pakistan agree that the Pakistan Army has to face up to the Taliban threat. The prestige of the army chief has gone up as has that of Mr Nawaz Sharif, whose party seemingly backs the operation. The media has also lined up behind the operation realising that it is now a national cause, not a little affected by the reckless killing and banning of journalists by the Taliban.

Among the religious circles, the Barelvi section has taken a bold stance against the deviationist rhetoric of Sufi Muhammad whom the Taliban have been using as their ideologue. Others are muted although not pleased with Sufi Muhammad’s novel ideas about the sharia. The Jama’at-e Islami under its new assertive leader Syed Munawwar Hasan has taken to the field by denouncing the operation in Swat. The JUI in the government at the centre is safely sitting on the fence, while Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e Insaf is aligned with the Jama’at in its aggressive rhetoric against the operation.

The May 12 threat of clashes in Karachi has passed off without incident despite the presumed provocation of Imran Khan’s presence there. He said of the action in Swat: “People are under an impression that the Pakistan Army is fighting a US war and is killing people for US dollars, just the way Iraqis and Afghans consider their security forces. A military action on the dictation of Do More was an often-tried and a failed strategy”.

Given his popularity level, Mr Khan should have gone to the refugee camps in Mardan and Swabi where his party is doing some humanitarian work. That is the national cause that will ultimately decide the political fate of a social worker-politician whom no one criticises for his extreme opinions simply out of sheer affection. The army has killed 751 Taliban in the Swat-Dir-Buner area at the cost of 29 soldiers. The real adverse statistic is the tally of displaced persons: for the death of 741 Taliban there are over a million refugees to take look after.

Compared to what happened in Bajaur last year, the tally is quite upsetting. In Bajaur, for a thousand Taliban killed, there were nearly 200,000 refugees who fanned out to all parts of the province, only a small proportion staying at the Jalozai former Afghan refugee camp near Peshawar. Unfortunately, the Bajauris have not all gone back to their homes in the agency, which is now under FC administration. Like the Afghan refugees, there is a threat of permanent exodus looming over the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) too. It should be noted that out of the 5 million Afghan refuges, only one-half have returned to Afghanistan.

Malakand was already hosting refugees from Bajaur in some areas of Dir. When serious trouble began in 2008, Swatis and Bajauris also fled to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. There are nearly 50,000 of them living there but have not been given camp facilities to discourage the populations from the tribal areas from moving far from their homes. But the fact is that these stricken people have fled to whatever parts they could, usually at the call of their relatives and co-tribals. Many from Swat and Bajaur are already in Karachi after a recent exodus. One can ignore such “close” displacements as the Orakzai and Mohmand exodus into Kohat.

The Swat refugees have seen more cruelty at the hands of the Taliban than the people of Bajaur who nonetheless organised their own militias to fight them. But the level of cruelty achieved in Swat is unprecedented and therefore the IDPs are large even though not alienated from the state. However, they will be alienated if they are not looked after well. Fortunately, however, after the initial lack of preparedness, one can see the beginnings of a worthy response to the calamity
 
As the battle heats up

Editorial
Thursday, 14 May, 2009

THE battle for the Taliban heartland in Swat moved up a gear on Tuesday as crack commando units were airlifted to mountains ringing Peochar, the district headquarters of militant chief Fazlullah and his band of fighters. It is much too early to predict the outcome but the result will have a huge bearing on the wider fight against militancy. A rout here of the Taliban — and, ideally, the capture or surrender of Fazlullah — may demoralise the militants who still control Mingora, Swat’s largest city, and lead to desertions in other areas as well. If the military is to be believed, this is already happening in Malakand Division as a whole, where new recruits and ‘criminal elements’ who had sided with the Taliban are said to have lost their appetite for battle. The military also maintains that nearly 750 militants have been killed so far in the ongoing operation. Unfortunately, there is no way of independently verifying these claims or, in some cases, distinguishing between dead fighters and civilians caught in the crossfire.

That said, it is clear that significant advances have been made in recent days and the Taliban are now on the defensive. Given the appeasement policies of successive governments, perhaps they never expected so ferocious a response. A rout of the Fazlullah-led Taliban may also destabilise their counterparts in the tribal belt, which must become the focus of counter-insurgency efforts once peace is achieved in Swat. A Taliban setback in Swat could, however, also produce the reverse effect in the tribal areas. It may serve as a catalyst for binding together the loose confederation of militants operating there and ultimately produce a more united fighting force. Needless to say, a Taliban victory in Swat — or even a stalemate — will be an unmitigated disaster. It will further embolden an already audacious enemy and spell ruin for the country.

The current crackdown has naturally gone down well with the US which had long been pushing, to put it mildly, for decisive action against the Taliban. Washington’s routine public criticism of Islamabad’s capitulation as well as aspersions cast on Pakistan’s security apparatus served no constructive purpose whatsoever. Any such complaints ought to have been discussed solely on a government-to-government level but were instead broadcast through the media as well. Now that a military operation is in full swing, US criticism has tapered off for the time being. If we are in this together for the long haul, Washington would do well to show patience and hold its verbal fire
 

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