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Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

true. i can imagine army destroying many houses in mangora. wat do u think how long will it take army to get to mangora?? two weeks?

http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakistans-war/26610-troops-gain-firm-foothold-peochar.html
this thread has alot of info in the article about what the taliban are doing its seems they are in control of mingora town and have laid bodies around the city to frighten civilians and told them not to leave its seems the toughest stage of the offensive will be the urban fighting in mingora i hope its as short as possible but army will also look to minimise use of heavy air suppourt and artiliary because of the infrastructure i think itll be alot more hand to hand which may increase casualities but hopefully no soldier is even injured
 
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Pakistan's fight against the Taliban has a limited chance of success because of the army's inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the west, according to a counter-insurgency expert.

As Pakistan continued its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley to the north-west of Islamabad, David Kilcullen, widely hailed as a key strategist behind the successful US surge in Iraq, warned that the outlook for the operation was "pretty bleak"....He added that Pakistan "has a long history of doing the minimum necessary" to keep western aid flowing into the country. "I hope we will see something different out of this offensive but I remain to be convinced." link
 
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Pakistan's fight against the Taliban has a limited chance of success because of the army's inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the west, according to a counter-insurgency expert.

As Pakistan continued its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley to the north-west of Islamabad, David Kilcullen, widely hailed as a key strategist behind the successful US surge in Iraq, warned that the outlook for the operation was "pretty bleak"....He added that Pakistan "has a long history of doing the minimum necessary" to keep western aid flowing into the country. "I hope we will see something different out of this offensive but I remain to be convinced." link
i dont think pakistan really does care about american opinion we all no how successful NATO and america have been in afghanistan frankly we dont want our troops safe in there bases while these thugs run havoc on our people
 
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i dont think pakistan really does care about american opinion we all no how successful NATO and america have been in afghanistan frankly we dont want our troops safe in there bases while these thugs run havoc on our people

You are going to fall on your face if you continue to argue with this point. Your army WAS sitting pretty safe in their bases till just a few days ago under the name of peace deal. And thugs were(?) running amok among your people.
 
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You are going to fall on your face if you continue to argue with this point. Your army WAS sitting pretty safe in their bases till just a few days ago under the name of peace deal. And thugs were(?) running amok among your people.

is swat noone is arguing they were sitting safe but they did it why because they wanted to twist the opinion of people they signed the deal and the taliban would not lay down their arms therefore the people couldnt and arent blaming the army but in afghanistan karzai is mocked for stayin in his palace meaning he has no power outside of kabul taliban control huge huge areas of afghanistan and have influence everywhere and NATO and America is useless in winning suppourt of the people in afghanistan can u say the pak taliban have 1/10 the power and suppourt that the afghan talibs have
 
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You are going to fall on your face if you continue to argue with this point. Your army WAS sitting pretty safe in their bases till just a few days ago under the name of peace deal. And thugs were(?) running amok among your people.

Kilcullen's view is flawed and superficial.

There was a whole host of domestic political reasons behind the decisions taken in Swat by the GoP, not the Army.

Read from this post on: http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakistans-war/7284-acts-terrorism-pakistan-ii-41.html#post369286
 
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Kilcullen's view is flawed and superficial.

There was a whole host of domestic political reasons behind the decisions taken in Swat by the GoP, not the Army.

Read from this post on: http://www.defence.pk/forums/369286-post602.html

exactly our govts signed the papers because they knew these people have no interst in peace and if they had of laid down their arms it wud of been govt maulvis running the courts not the taliban by not laying down their arms and moving into buner they completely isolated themselves and suppourt for them is no longer justified
 
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Besides what ever Decisions we take today will have a lot of consequences..Americans will pull out of AFG one day and return to America where as we will have to live with domestic problems.
 
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Military claims major accomplishments in Swat operation
Updated at: 1836 PST, Thursday, May 14, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Spokesman Pakistan Army Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas Thursday said the Swat operation is successfully underway and troops are making major achievements the in the counter-insurgency battle.

Giving updates on the latest of the ongoing operation in Malakand Division, the spokesman said 54 more militants have been killed in the last 24 hours while 9 men of security forces were martyred.

Minister of State for Information Samsam Ali Bukhari and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar were also present on the occasion.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said operation is being carried out from four directions in Swat in which, he added, a large number of militants have been killed so far.

Action is being taken in Swat, Buner and Shangla through a comprehensive strategy.

He told the reporters that the security forces have successfully foiled a militants’ attack on a military headquarter in Piochar while exchange of fire is going on with militants in Audigram area.

DG ISPR said the operation is being taken ahead slowly to avoid civilian casualties. The ground forces have started action in Buner and Sultanwas while clash with militants continues in Shalpam area.

Military claims major accomplishments in Swat operation - GEO.tv
 
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Just watched News..General Kiyani Millitary will not pull out from Swat unless Millitants are flushed out.
 
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Did Kiyani really say the PA is surrounding the Taliban from four directions but is willing to be satisfied with their escape followed by a PA withdrawal?
 
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Did Kiyani really say the PA is surrounding the Taliban from four directions but is willing to be satisfied with their escape followed by a PA withdrawal?
5-14-2009_42090_l.gif

General Kiyani and ISI Chief in Swat
No, he said Militants will be killed unless they surrender and lay down arms.
- SWAT: The Chief of the Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, on Thursday visited Swat and met with field commanders and troops participating in ongoing operations.

He appreciated high morale of the troops. He also saw at first hand certain operations being carried out against the militants.

He was given detailed briefing about the progress of operations by General Officer Commanding.

Army chief reiterated army’s resolve to flush out militancy from Swat and defeat the militants as a whole.

Earlier, on arrival he was received by the Corps Commander.
 
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Did Kiyani really say the PA is surrounding the Taliban from four directions but is willing to be satisfied with their escape followed by a PA withdrawal?

Where did Gen. Kiyani say that?

Or is this another unsubstantiated assertion, or a 'distortion of the truth', commonly known as 'lying'?
 
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Security forces kill 54 terrorists; destroy 15 hideouts in Swat : DG ISPR
ISLAMABAD, May 14 (APP): The security forces during the last 24 hours killed 54 terrorists while destroying their 15 hideouts in Rah-e-Haq-4 Operation, Director General ISPR Major General Athar Abbas said here Thursday. Addressing a joint media briefing at PID, Maj. Gen Athar Abbas said during the operation 9 security personnel have embraced shahadat while 14 others sustained injuries during various encounters with the terrorists. The security forces are advancing in the area to flush out the miscreants.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Syed Samsam Ali Bokhari, Minister of State on Finance Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Ashfaq Ahmed Gondal, Brig. Aamir of Special Support Group for IDPs and Principal Information Officer Mian Shabir Anwar were also present.

Director General ISPR reiterated the firm stand and direction given by the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to take extra ordinary measures to avoid collateral damage during the operation.

“Pakistan Army understands that management of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is as important as military operation in Swat”. He maintained that the Special Support Group is making all out efforts to manage the IDPs in a befitting manner.

Referring to the prevailing war situation in the operation area, Major Gen. Athar Abbas urged the media to be mindful of the fact that the valiant soldiers who are fighting against the terrorists and miscreants are doing this for the cause of the survival and wellbeing of every one of us. “They are offering sacrifices for the liberty and wellbeing of each one of us,” he said.

Answering a question he said, the activities of miscreants, terrorists and Taliban should not be correlated with the Military which has been carrying out operation in the area in most professional manner. He said the Military has been fighting by observing all the norms while the opponent (miscreants, terrorists) have no such taboo to observe. “They behead and slaughter the people while no single soldier can even think of committing any such barbarian act,” he said.

He said the whole nation was backing the military operation and this will continue till the area is cleared of the terrorist and miscreants.

When his attention was drawn towards a report carried out by BBC, he said,”We totally reject this report as incorrect and based on assumption.”

He said that the province of NWFP comprises two major areas called settled and tribal. Bajur area has been cleared of terrorists, he said while Momand is in the process of being purged. He said in FATA area not a single Agency Headquarter has ever been taken over by miscreants or terrorists. The state is functional there. The report is part of malicious campaign, he added.

About the role of PAF in the operation, he said, the aircrafts of PAF have been engaged for mountainious and hilly areas, which are occupied by the terrorists. “A number of caves occupied by the miscreants have been engaged successfully by PAF jets killing a number of terrorists,” he said.

In reference to a report carried by New York Times, he said, the report does not deserve any comments as this is based on comments of some US officials. “No US official has officially talked to any of our official on the subject,” he said.

To another question, he said that the Swat Operation is being carried out by Pakistani forces through indigenous resources and rejected any such report referring that there was some assistance being given by Afghanistan.

The Director General ISPR while responding to a query regarding time frame of the Buner Operation, he said due to precise and specific approach the operation had to be halted for redesigning. “It is going at a slower pace but major achievements are there,” he said.

Giving details about the operation, he said, at Poechar, search and destroy operation is in progress as during the night between Wednesday and Thursday militants made an abortive attempt to raid the base of security forces. The miscreants suffered heavy causalities of 21 killings during the attempt while 8 security personnel got injured.

At Ramotai Loe (Shangla Sector) 15 militant hideouts were destroyed where three miscreant snipers and 12 other miscreants were killed.

He said in the area of Barikot, the security forces after removing a lot of IEDs and eliminating the resistance have been able to clear area up to Udigram (6 km short of Mingora). “Intense fighting is taking place at Udigram,” he said. On Thursday, three miscreants including an important commander have been killed in Udigram, he added.

He said that intense clashes between the miscreants and the security forces are taking place in the north of Shalpalam area.

He said two miscreants were killed by security forces snipers near Circuit House in Mingora while 13 others were killed in Tursak, suburb of Mingora.

At Sultanwas in Buner, he said that ground forces have launched operation on early Thursday to cleanse the area of militants. “It is continuing smoothly and the militants are running away,” he said.

In reply to yet another question, he said the operation at present is continuing at isolated places where the presence of the militants is confirmed.

Replying to a query, the representative of Special Support Group said that the possibility of presence of Taliban in the garb of civilian cannot be ruled out completely. However, efforts through adoption of various mechanisms are in hand to avoid any such incident. “We cannot segregate Taliban from civilian population as they hail from the same area,” he said.

He told a questioner that all those who approach at the IDP camps are provided food and basic amenities whether they have proper identification documents or not.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Security forces kill 54 terrorists; destroy 15 hideouts in Swat : DG ISPR
 
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Kilcullen's view is flawed and superficial.

There was a whole host of domestic political reasons behind the decisions taken in Swat by the GoP, not the Army.

Read from this post on: http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakistans-war/7284-acts-terrorism-pakistan-ii-41.html#post369286


Not that I agree fully with Kilcullen or, for that matter, with you. But I thank you for the link that you provided me with, which offered some interesting reading.

The gist of your argument is that your army is trying to give enough space to newly elected civilian government, and is not interfering in the decision making process. In case of Pakistan, a country with a long history of military dictators, there is a fine line in place about today's civilian government, about army's interference. One needs to define what is army's failure & how much is enough for army to interfere.

I refuse to believe that Kiyani was completely out of the decision making process for whatever happened in Swat or Buner. He, with his experience of leading ISI, would have had exact judgement of where the things would have headed. If you are arguing that he kept mum over all this, it reflects very bad on his responsibilities. So somewhere in the administration, there is a soft corner for Talibs.

And by simply looking at your history, one can not overrule the possibility that Kiyani is looking to grab power. I would be surprised if he is not. So, why not let things go out of hand first, then step in with army with full force, defeat the Talibs (at least for the name sake) & get people to support you? Probably that is what he up to.
 
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