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Operation Rah-e-Rast (Swat)

COMMENT: Not an easy war —Abbas Rashid

The only way to ensure the security of the people as well as their trust would be for the military to maintain a presence in proximity to the settlements rather than at remote locations

The bombing of the PC hotel in Peshawar on Tuesday with a high number of casualties is yet another reminder that the success of the military operation in Malakand does not mean we are anywhere close to the end of this war. The terrorists can no longer exercise their writ in huge swathes of the area but they are bent on taking the war to the rest of the country. They may be desperate but their strikes are obviously no less effective for that.

Like their attack on the Rescue 15 building in Lahore, the bombing in Peshawar was preceded by firing to gain closer access to the building and inflict maximum damage. It is probable that such attacks are meant to undermine the popular consensus at this point in favour of decisively tackling this challenge of terrorism and insurgency and to continue Operation Rah-e-Rast beyond Malakand to that end.

This is obviously an uphill battle for our forces that are not trained for counter-insurgency warfare. They have demonstrated extraordinary courage in taking on the Taliban who have the obvious advantage of terrain if not training, and certainly do not seem to be lacking in firepower or funds — whatever the source. At the same time the innocent men, women and children caught up trying to flee the battle zones are paying a very high price for the war.

Even though no specific plans have been announced, there is now an expectation that the military will take the battle to the Taliban holed up in the tribal agencies. This will obviously increase the influx into the settled areas. And while some reports suggest that things have improved somewhat in the camps, there is still along way to go with just the heat being enough to drive people to despair. In any case the great majority of the IDPs are with host families, most of whom are at breaking point given that they had few resources to begin with other than their immense generosity.

It has apparently been decided that military presence will continue in the area to ensure against any attempt by the Taliban to re-establish their presence. Nevertheless, it is the civilian administration, including the police, which will have the primary task of ensuring the development and security requirements of those who return to pick up the pieces and begin all over again.

It is far from clear whether the political leadership has a clearly elaborated plan to this effect. At this point the financial resources available are insufficient even for the relief effort, as the UN has warned on more than one occasion. According to a recent update, the Humanitarian Response Plan has so far received only 22 percent funding. Had the host families in Mardan, Swabi and elsewhere not come forward in such large numbers, this would already be a crisis of a very different kind. But this valuable time that has thus been provided should be put to good use, otherwise the crisis will simply have been postponed rather than averted.

Meanwhile, local tribes or lashkars will have to be supported by the military once they decide to take on the Taliban. Previously such efforts were not backed up and cases such as that of Pir Samiullah a few months ago, whose body the Swat Taliban exhumed and hanged as a warning to all who dared offer resistance, led to widespread demoralisation.

That has changed. For instance, we now have the example of Upper Dir where the local people, infuriated at the bombing of a mosque by the terrorists and the killing of dozens of men offering prayers, formed a lashkar and with the military’s support went after the Taliban themselves.

The military obviously has a key role to play in this phase that entails pushing out the Taliban from the areas where they had taken control. But, it is important to ensure that the role of airpower, including drones, is sharply curtailed. For it exacts a high toll in terms of loss of life and property among non-combatants, fuelling alienation and resentment among the younger people in particular.

There have been some statements to the effect that the war will only be won when the entire terrorist leadership is eliminated. This may be a long-term enterprise and some may already have made their way into Afghanistan. In any case the priority in the phase after the operation has to be restoring the badly shaken confidence of the people of the area who, it must be remembered, have seen the Taliban retreat and reappear more than once.

The only way to ensure the security of the people as well as their trust would be for the military to maintain a presence in proximity to the settlements rather than at remote locations. Equally, in this second phase the role of the civil administration is critical. And given our track record on governance this is going to be a challenge no less formidable than that of getting the area freed from Taliban control.

In the process we also have to look to the role that the electronic media, particularly radio, can play in getting a different kind of message across to the people in the camps as well as the many others deeply affected by this war in various ways. A concept note titled ‘school khuley hain’ that I recently came across is an eminently sensible proposal for the use of FM and medium-wave transmitters for continuing by other means the education of children in camps and in areas where the Taliban have destroyed schools.

The programmes would have to be engaging and instructive and might even end up being an improvement over the education currently available in most of our schools. Programmes for other audiences also need to be developed. It is ironic that for years we have appeared unable to jam the radio frequencies being used by the likes of Fazlullah to indoctrinate and intimidate the local population while at the same time developing no strategy for using the electronic media for our purposes.

At another level altogether there has to be a clearer understanding among our ruling elite not only of what is at stake but also what it will take to navigate our way out of this storm — not limited to the NWFP and FATA. Even as the military operation moves ahead, the widening gulf between Pakistan’s two major political parties, for instance, suggests a lack of clarity on one or both counts.

Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh@gmail.com
 
Govt to purchase Rs13bn (USD 160m) weapons from China

LAHORE: The government will purchase weapons worth over Rs 13 billion from China in an attempt to give the NWFP police force a better fighting chance against the Taliban, a private TV channel said on Friday. The channel quoted official sources as saying that the NWFP Home and Tribal Affairs Department had, in a letter to the Interior Ministry, requested for weapons for the provincial police force.

daily times monitor
 
Govt to purchase Rs13bn (USD 160m) weapons from China

LAHORE: The government will purchase weapons worth over Rs 13 billion from China in an attempt to give the NWFP police force a better fighting chance against the Taliban, a private TV channel said on Friday. The channel quoted official sources as saying that the NWFP Home and Tribal Affairs Department had, in a letter to the Interior Ministry, requested for weapons for the provincial police force.

daily times monitor

Any details on what exactly are we looking for with the Chinese? Also apparently it seems evident that the US has refused to sell us related equipment and we now are forced to look elsewhere (China).
 
Any details on what exactly are we looking for with the Chinese? Also apparently it seems evident that the US has refused to sell us related equipment and we now are forced to look elsewhere (China).

GOP wanted these weapons for police to strengthen the civil defence against terrorists.

I think GOP decision is right.Civil defence is prime responsibility of police , correct me if i am wrong?
 
41 more terrorist killed in last 24 hours: DG IPSR

RAWALPINDI ( 2009-06-13 18:32:14 ) :Forty one terrorists were killed and two were apprehended in various areas of Malakand and Bannu. At the same time, one soldier martyred and seven were injured, said DG ISPR Major General Ather Abbas.

According to ISPR press release, In response to suicide attack on Jamia Naimia, in which Dr Muftee Muhammad Sarfraz Naimi and six others were martyred in Lahore, two terrorists compounds were targeted by PAF in Makeen, South Waziristan Agency. The number of casualties could not be ascertained.

Security forces carried out search operation in Mingora and recovered cache of arms, Night Vision Goggles and Devices. Two terrorists were also apprehended.

Terrorists fire raided with heavy weapons on Security Forces at Kabal Camp, resultantly one soldier martyred and four soldiers were injured, while six terrorists were killed.

Security forces secured areas of Nawagai, Amluk Dara, Balasur, Kharaiai and Karakar Kandao. Security forces also successfully established link up at Wainai Bridge. During exchange of fire, three soldiers were injured.

Jirgas comprising 40-50 locals from Sharshain and adjoining villages of Piochar valley contacted the local Army commander and showed their confidence on ongoing operations in the area. They were also provided with food and other relief items by the Army.

Terrorists’ hideouts and compounds were targeted in Makeen, South Waziristan Agency. Number of terrorists casualties is not known. This attack was in response to suicide attack on Madrassa of Dr Muftee Muhammad Sarfraz Naimi in which seven civilian embraced shahadat and Nowshera Mosque suicide attack in which four security forces personnel martyred.

In Bannu, Security Forces have secured Zindi Akbar Khan, FC Fort Jani Khel and area upto Marwat Canal. During operation 35 terrorists were killed. Over a period of time, Jani Khel had turned into safe haven for terrorists and criminals. It was being used as a base for conducting criminal/terrorists activities in to other settled areas of NWFP and other provinces.

Security Forces have secured important Karakar pass which links Buner with Swat.

Terrorists locations were targeted in Orakzai Agency on Thursday by PAF after lot of deliberations and concrete evidence based upon intelligence reports that the Madrassas of Amin and other hideouts were being used for terrorists activities in NWFP and else where in the country. Locals have also confirmed that the Madrassa of Amin was being used as a slaughter house for killing of innocent people and for keeping kidnapped personnel.

Relief Activities. 12 trucks loads of food and relief items were distributed among the IDPs and stranded people of Malakand.
AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz
 
41 more terrorist killed in last 24 hours: DG IPSR

RAWALPINDI ( 2009-06-13 18:32:14 ) :Forty one terrorists were killed and two were apprehended in various areas of Malakand and Bannu. At the same time, one soldier martyred and seven were injured, said DG ISPR Major General Ather Abbas.

According to ISPR press release, In response to suicide attack on Jamia Naimia, in which Dr Muftee Muhammad Sarfraz Naimi and six others were martyred in Lahore, two terrorists compounds were targeted by PAF in Makeen, South Waziristan Agency. The number of casualties could not be ascertained.

Security forces carried out search operation in Mingora and recovered cache of arms, Night Vision Goggles and Devices. Two terrorists were also apprehended.

Terrorists fire raided with heavy weapons on Security Forces at Kabal Camp, resultantly one soldier martyred and four soldiers were injured, while six terrorists were killed.

Security forces secured areas of Nawagai, Amluk Dara, Balasur, Kharaiai and Karakar Kandao. Security forces also successfully established link up at Wainai Bridge. During exchange of fire, three soldiers were injured.

Jirgas comprising 40-50 locals from Sharshain and adjoining villages of Piochar valley contacted the local Army commander and showed their confidence on ongoing operations in the area. They were also provided with food and other relief items by the Army.

Terrorists’ hideouts and compounds were targeted in Makeen, South Waziristan Agency. Number of terrorists casualties is not known. This attack was in response to suicide attack on Madrassa of Dr Muftee Muhammad Sarfraz Naimi in which seven civilian embraced shahadat and Nowshera Mosque suicide attack in which four security forces personnel martyred.

In Bannu, Security Forces have secured Zindi Akbar Khan, FC Fort Jani Khel and area upto Marwat Canal. During operation 35 terrorists were killed. Over a period of time, Jani Khel had turned into safe haven for terrorists and criminals. It was being used as a base for conducting criminal/terrorists activities in to other settled areas of NWFP and other provinces.

Security Forces have secured important Karakar pass which links Buner with Swat.

Terrorists locations were targeted in Orakzai Agency on Thursday by PAF after lot of deliberations and concrete evidence based upon intelligence reports that the Madrassas of Amin and other hideouts were being used for terrorists activities in NWFP and else where in the country. Locals have also confirmed that the Madrassa of Amin was being used as a slaughter house for killing of innocent people and for keeping kidnapped personnel.

Relief Activities. 12 trucks loads of food and relief items were distributed among the IDPs and stranded people of Malakand.
AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz
 
Jets bombardment in Mohmand Agency, 21 miscreants killed

WANA ( 2009-06-13 11:28:37 ) :At least twenty one miscreants have been killed in jets bombardment on militants’ hideouts by security forces in different areas of Mohmand Agency on Saturday.

According to sources, jets and artillery pounded and destroyed several militant hideouts in various areas of Mohmand and other areas. Several hideouts have been destroyed and causalities feared.

Meanwhile, people in large number are migrating from Mohmand Agency.

AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz
 
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Look at the way "they" see events --- See if you can recognize a common thread with how some USED to see events in Pakistan


Yemen 'not safe haven' for Pakistan Al Qaida operatives
Gulfnews: Yemen 'not safe haven' for Pakistan Al Qaida operatives

06/13/2009 01:05 PM | By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent

Sana'a: Yemeni security officials denied reports that some Al Qaida operatives in Pakistan had escaped to Yemen.

"These allegations are untrue and baseless, and Yemen is not a safe haven for such terrorists," the defence ministry website (www.26.sep.net) quoted an unidentified security official as saying on Saturday.

The official said that his country is exerting all efforts to combat terrorism and that it is making progress in this field.

"Yemen is supporting all regional and international efforts to combat terrorism," the official said.

He called the media to be accurate and credible and avoid the "untrue leaks" that aim to offend Yemen or to achieve some special goals of those behind them.

On Friday, the New York Times quoted American officials as saying they have seen the first evidence that dozens of fighters with Al Qaida, and a small handful of the terrorist group's leaders, are moving to Somalia and Yemen from their principal haven in Pakistan's tribal areas.

"In communications that are being watched carefully at the Pentagon, the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency, the terrorist groups in all three locations are now communicating more frequently, and apparently trying to coordinate their actions," the paper quoted the unidentified officials as saying.
 
Normalcy returning to Mingora, say residents



Sunday, June 14, 2009
By Delawar Jan

PESHAWAR: Security forces relaxed the curfew in parts of the Swat Valley on Saturday as six more militants and a soldier were killed in a clash, which was triggered when militants fired at a troops’ camp in Kabal.

Bazaars remained closed in Mingora, the main city in the valley, despite curfew relaxation on Friday and Saturday after two weeks, but locals said that life was gradually returning to normal.

Several people, living in and around the Mingora city, told The News that the situation appeared to be improving in the city, retaken from the militants on May 30.

Some of the residents, who recently moved out of Mingora, said the Army had carried out a spray in the city to remove the stench of rotten bodies.

The Mingora city had been the scene of fierce clashes between security forces and the militants for days whereas a number of militants were killed. They said the decomposed bodies were being removed.

About the restoration of basic facilities, the locals said the authorities were able to restore the damaged power supply to parts of Mingora and Saidu Sharif on Friday.

However, a resident of Banr union council of Mingora, wishing anonymity, refuted the government’s claim to have restored the gas supply to the city.

Also, he said, electricity was partially restored to Banr, but most of the areas, including Usmanabad, were still without power supply. “A tube-well in Usmanabad has been non-functional for weeks and we could not get water for 40 days,” a resident said.

He said shops remained closed on Friday and Saturday, while offices could not be reopened. “A couple of shops in Nishat and Suhrab Squares were opened. In Green Chowk, a busy square of the city, I saw only spinach for sale,” he said.

He said no one was being allowed to enter the Saidu hospital. “The telephone and mobile networks are also down.”

NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour said on Saturday that officials of the civil administration would reach the valley by June 20 to resume work in offices. The process of return of internally displaced persons may also start after June 20. Displaced families have already started reaching Mingora through Sangar area, the locals said.

Security forces are still patrolling the streets in the city and now Taliban could not be seen in the city, locals said.

Some residents of Charbagh, which security forces claimed to have cleared of the militants, said the military action was going well. “A friend of mine living in Charbagh managed to come out of Swat Valley to Chakdara town of Dir Lower. He called me and said that the operation in Charbagh was effective as the Taliban were being killed,” a resident of Mingora now living in Peshawar quoted his friend as telling him. Pleading not to be named due to security reasons, he said the people of Charbagh met the troops and appreciated the operation against the militants.

“Another good thing is that the soldiers have adopted people-friendly attitude. They chat with the people on the streets and help them,” he added. He said some Taliban militants had flocked the Gaadi Dagai area on the Kabal-Shamozai road.

A resident of Banr told The News that the people of Koza Bandai and Bara Bandai complained that the Taliban had not been targeted in the ongoing operation. Both the villages, located in Kabal, had remained strongholds of the militants.

Another resident of Kokarai, some eight kilometres off Mingora, said that the militants were still present in his village and Jambil. Meanwhile, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that six militants and one soldier were killed in a clash in Kabal. Seven soldiers, four in Kabal and three in Wenai, were injured. The clash in Kabal started when the militants fired at the forces camp in Kabal with heavy weapons.

Normalcy returning to Mingora, say residents
 
Artillery sent to help Lashkar in Dir



Sunday, June 14, 2009
By our correspondent

PESHAWAR: Security forces on Saturday came to the aid of the Lashkar struggling to dislodge the holed-up Taliban in Ghazigay village of Doog Darra in Dir Upper, and deployed artillery guns in Miana Doog and Panakot areas to pound the cave the militants were hiding in.

Locals said artillery guns were deployed in Panakot, some four kilometres north of Dir town, and in Miana Doog, situated to the east of the Ghazigay area in Doog Darra to hit the Taliban militants hiding in a cave in Kandao area. The fast advancing Lashkar, killing militants and torching their houses, was blocked when the Taliban allegedly planted mines before leaving Shatkas and parts of Ghazigay for their last hideout on a mountaintop in Kandao area. The Lashkar claims to have killed over 30 militants in the seven-day fighting. However, they have been unable to clear the mines.

Security forces deployed artillery guns to dismantle the hideout and kill or force the militants to come out of the cave. Sources said though security forces had not been moved to the area, some personnel had been sent to operate the guns. There are rare cases where forces have come to the help of Lashkars in the troubled areas.

Artillery sent to help Lashkar in Dir



this is really great. earlier a gunship was sent as well.
our army has learned a lot from their past experiances
 
Al-Qaeda financier apprehended in Yemen
Updated at: 2045 PST, Sunday, June 14, 2009
SANAA: Yemeni authorities have arrested the financier of Al-Qaeda operations in the country and in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, an official said Sunday, as cited on the defence ministry news website.

"The arrested man is named Hassan Hussein bin Alwan, a Saudi national, and he is the financier for attacks launched by Al-Qaeda organisation in Yemen and Saudi Arabia," the unnamed security official told September Net website.

"He is considered one of the most dangerous members of Al-Qaeda," he added.

In January the local Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen announced in a video message posted on the Internet the merging of the Saudi and Yemeni branches into "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," led by a Yemeni, Nasser al-Wahaishi.

Yemen, the ancestral land of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has witnessed a number of attacks claimed by the organisation in recent years against foreign missions, tourist sites and oil installations.

The New York Times reported on Friday that dozens of Al-Qaeda fighters and some of the extremist group's leaders are shifting to Somalia and Yemen from their haven in Pakistan's tribal areas amid US military pressure.

But a Yemeni official on Saturday dismissed the report as "fabrications that are baseless" claiming that Yemen "is not a suitable place for terrorists to use as a safe haven."
 
Friends

Earlier we said that should Pakistan begin to take on the Talib, signals should be forth coming from Russia and Iran, an upcoming meeting holds great importance for Pakistan and the region:

Russia welcomes new US ****** policy

* Sees new areas of cooperation in Afghanistan
* Official says transit of NATO supplies to Afghanistan to be discussed

MOSCOW: Russia welcomes the ‘increasingly transparent’ US policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan and sees new areas of cooperation with the West in settling the Afghan conflict, the Kremlin’s chief foreign policy adviser said on Sunday.

Afghanistan is expected to become a major topic at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Monday. The SCO groups Russia, China and the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, but leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Iran – whose states have observer status – will also attend the summit. Sergei Prikhodko told reporters that the space for cooperation with the West on Afghanistan could be broadened. He said Russian President Dmitri Medvedev would meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari later this week on the sidelines of the summit. “A three-way meeting will also take place,” he said.

He said the transit of NATO supplies to Afghanistan and economic help to Afghanistan would be discussed at the summit.

Cooperation on Afghanistan is a key element in attempts by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama to reset relations between Moscow and Washington, which have reached post-Cold War lows in the past few years.

Drug trafficking: Russia and its Central Asian allies are concerned that drug trafficking from Afghanistan has grown since the overthrow of the Taliban, posing a grave security threat for the region. “In our assessment, the effectiveness of fighting the drug traffic from Afghanistan is falling rather than rising,” a Kremlin source said. Russia hosted an SCO conference on Afghanistan in Moscow in March, but Prikhodko said the members of the organisation were not planning to try and take over the initiative in settling the Afghan conflict from the Western coalition. “A stronger role means more responsibility,” Prikhodko said. “If we claim a stronger role, that will ultimately take us towards taking part in the international force. We are not going to send troops to Afghanistan.” “For now, the main responsibility for Afghanistan lies with the countries forming the international forces,” he said. “We are going there mainly to take part in reconstruction.” reuters
 
Bajaur sees renewed Taliban activity

* Govt official says fighting restricted to Charmang, area largely under Taliban control

KHAR: Security forces used jets, helicopters and artillery to pound suspected Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency, where the army said it had vanquished the Taliban earlier this year, government officials said on Sunday.

The clashes in Bajaur underscored Pakistan's challenge in holding territory allegedly cleared of the Taliban, a test likely to grow harder as the country considers staging more anti-Taliban offensives along the northwest region bordering Afghanistan.

Taliban control: Zakir Hussain Afridi, the top government official for Bajaur, said the fighting was in the Charmang Valley, a stretch he described as largely under Taliban control. Jamil Khan, his deputy, put the Taliban death toll at 14 since Friday. “There are militants there in Charmang. They are giving resistance to the forces," Khan said. The main focus of military action is currently in Swat and surrounding districts, where the army says its operation dating to late April has killed more than 1,300 Taliban.

Before Swat, however, the main theatre of operations against the Taliban was Bajaur. After some six months of fighting, the army said in February the Taliban there had been defeated. But reports have occasionally surfaced since then of ongoing militant activity there.

Afridi said the military had used airstrikes in the past in Charmang but that there were no ground troops - army or paramilitary - in that section of Bajaur. The government had relied heavily on local tribes in Bajaur to raise their own militias to force out local Taliban, but Afridi said that concept had not taken off well in Charmang.

A flare-up in Bajaur could complicate Pakistani plans to mount an offensive in South Waziristan, or even finish its work in Swat. Fighting on too many fronts could tax Pakistan's military, not to mention government resources. The Swat offensive has already displaced more than 2 million civilians, a huge humanitarian test. More battles along the Afghan border could swell that number.

ap

this is a prime example of "clearing the area" but then not being able to "hold" it because the army or the security forces dont have a infrastruce there like a cantonment or a FOB. what is also missing is the rehab and reconstruction activity which is the responsibility of the local administration.
 
Updated at: 1344 PST, Monday, June 15, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani said we do not need foreign advice about the ongoing operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’ which is launched to bring the astray people on the right track (Rah-e-Rast).

Talking to media, army chief said no one could understand our country better than us and the best possible result could be evolve in the present situation for long term betterment. There is a difference between conventional war and present war. In the ongoing war, it is difficult to distinguish friends and enemies.

General Kayani said this is not the war of Islam and Baitullah Mahsud and Fazllulah are not religious scholars. Pakistan was created in the name of Islam, its base is Islam and it would remain exist. Our sacrifices could be successful if Malakand affectees return back to their homes.

Air Chief Rao Qamar Suleman at this occasion said enemies are targeting our children, elders and scholars. The extremists are trying to impose their philosophy on the country. Pakistan Air Force’s performance is exemplary in war against extremism.
 
Gains in Pakistan Fuel Pentagon Optimism for Pursuing Al-Qaeda

By Joby Warrick and R. Jeffrey Smith

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Progress in Pakistan's two-month-old military campaign against insurgents in the Swat Valley has provoked Pentagon optimism that government forces will soon move decisively into the more rugged frontier region where al-Qaeda's leaders are based, perhaps curtailing a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan and Afghanistan, defense officials said yesterday.

The defense officials struck a laudatory tone in describing the prospects for military success in Pakistan, but other administration officials in recent days have expressed less confidence that the Pakistani military can simultaneously hold the territory it has won in Swat and provide sufficient troops for a new offensive to begin in South Waziristan. While government troops have cleared the population centers in Swat and adjoining districts, senior administration officials said the battle for those areas will not be considered won until the displaced population -- more than 2 million people -- feels it is safe to return. That will not happen, officials said, unless government forces remain in place to protect them from reinfiltrating Taliban fighters still believed to be hiding in high mountain reaches.

Two previous government assaults against insurgents, in 2004-2005 and last year, had little success because the insurgents hid and reemerged after Pakistani forces withdrew. But with improved tactics, larger forces and higher public support for a more sustained campaign, the Pakistani army is better positioned to strike than it has been in nearly a decade, military officials told news reporters at a briefing yesterday. The administration is anxious to convince members of Congress, who still must vote on supplemental war spending this year and increased funding for Pakistan in the future and who have voiced skepticism over Pakistan's long-term commitment to defeat the extremists.

The defense officials said the principal Pakistani aim in isolating and eventually striking against insurgents inside Waziristan, a tribally governed region on the Afghanistan border, would be to neutralize the threat posed by Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban warlord who U.S. officials believe was behind the assassination in 2007 of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

That aim overlaps but does not precisely coincide with Washington's desire for Pakistani forces to gain sufficient control of the rugged terrain in Waziristan to deny its use as a haven by al-Qaeda fighters and leaders, apparently including Osama bin Laden. "There are some groups we'd like Pakistan to take more action against," a senior defense official said in a separate briefing for reporters yesterday.

But the United States blames Mehsud -- whose militias the officials said are supplied, trained and financed by al-Qaeda -- for overseeing a factory-like system to create and dispatch suicide bombers throughout the region. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were providing sensitive intelligence information, said good evidence had been accumulated that Mehsud and his allies were buying children at Islamic schools to use them as suicide bombers, but the officials declined to describe any of the evidence in detail. One official said that undermining Mehsud "will have an impact on suicide bombs" in both countries.

While the government has intimated a Waziristan campaign is imminent, it has given no time frame. The government has few facilities in the high-altitude regions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and troops fighting there are "far beyond their supply lines," said an administration official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The senior defense official said he does not see evidence that al-Qaeda leaders are leaving the area. "I don't think it's accurate to say there is any significant movement of senior leadership outside the region and particularly Pakistan," he said.

Another defense official said the Pakistani military effort is working because "they have learned their lessons and changed their approach, and are hoping for more success."

Staff writers Ann Scott Tyson and Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
 
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