Pakistan suffers reverses in offensive against militants

[sonicboom]

Pakistan suffers reverses in offensive against militants

By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan -- Taliban guerrillas recaptured the birthplace of the Pakistani Taliban leader from the Pakistani army Tuesday, inflicting the heaviest military losses so far in Pakistan's high-stakes offensive in South Waziristan, a refuge for Pakistani extremists, Afghan insurgents and al-Qaida.

A government attempt to foment a tribal uprising against the Pakistani Taliban also failed Tuesday. In a meeting with the top Pakistani official for the tribal areas, elders of the area's Mehsud clan refused a request to form a traditional militia, known as a lashkar, to battle the Taliban who have taken over their territory.

Separately, two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, killed six people and wounded at least 20. In response, many educational institutions, including all schools and colleges in the Punjab, the country's most heavily populated province, announced that they'd close.

The Pakistani offensive appears to be the first serious operation against extremists in South Waziristan since 2004, when the military entered the area for the first time. Pakistan has thrown some 30,000 soldiers into the fight against an estimated 10,000 Taliban, plus some 1,500 foreign jihadists closely linked to al-Qaida.

However, Kotkai, a town surrounded by high mountains in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan, remained in Taliban hands late Tuesday after Pakistani forces were beaten back on the fourth day of the ground operation in South Waziristan.

The town is the birthplace of Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban. The group's top trainer of suicide bombers, Qari Hussain, also comes from Kotkai, and he has a madrassa, or Islamic school, just outside the town in which hundreds of children and young men have been indoctrinated into suicide attacks.

Security officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to journalists, said that Pakistani troops had thrust into Kotkai only to be hit by a determined counteroffensive that killed seven soldiers, including an army major, and wounded seven more.

There was no official announcement about the Kotkai clash. In a statement, the army reported that four soldiers had been killed and three wounded Tuesday in South Waziristan, but those casualties were sustained elsewhere, bringing the total to 13 soldiers killed since the operation began Saturday. Twelve "terrorists" also were killed Tuesday, the army statement said, bringing the official total to 90.

"We gave them a really tough time in Kotkai," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said, claiming that 40 to 45 soldiers had died in the battle. He said three militants were killed and four wounded in the Kotkai battle.

Meanwhile, Owais Ghani, the governor of the North West Frontier Province, who's in charge of the tribal area, which borders Afghanistan, called together Mehsud chiefs in the town of Tank on the edge of South Waziristan and asked them to join the fight.

In a letter dropped from a plane over the tribe's territory, Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, described the Mehsuds as courageous, loyal Pakistanis and urged them to "rise collectively" against the militants.

"The ongoing operation by the Pakistani army is not aimed at the patriotic Mehsud tribes," he wrote. "Instead, the target is for the good riddance of the Mehsud tribes from the cruel clutches of terrorist elements who have ruined the law and order and peace of this area."

However, the Taliban have cemented their hold on South Waziristan by killing hundreds of traditional tribal leaders, and the tribal chiefs told Ghani that "in the current hazardous situation, it is not possible for us to support you," an official who was present told McClatchy Newspapers.

(Shah is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent.)

Pakistan suffers reverses in offensive against militants - World AP - MiamiHerald.com

 

[pakdefender]

Ahh I had been waiting for all these Daud Khattaks , Saliab Mehsuds and Saeed Shahs type of journalists to start mouthing off the terrorist propaganda , thats why it imperative for keep these types in check.

That Rahim Ullah Yousafzai hasnt barfed yet , lets see what he comes up with.

I read today that a 'mashoor' commander ( as arif yousafzai put it in the clip where he disrespected a brave son of Pakistan , Captain Najam Riaz ) has 'complained' today that media is only reporintg 'one side' hahah lol .. these barf bag terrorists are listening, watching and reading and by giving them ANY space to spread their disease would be a big mistake.

The village ( and all the village idiots ) will all fall , the troops have surrounded the area and if need be just napalm the whole palce.

There can be NO reversal shiversal. F U C K these bastards!

Onwards we march to CRUSH these fags AND their supporters!

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

R.I.H

Talibans bye bye

 

[DaRk WaVe]

Peter Goodspeed: All of Pakistan becoming warzone

As Pakistani troops battled on Monday for control of the small South Waziristan town of Kotkai, the hometown of the Pakistani Taliban's two top leaders, suicide bombers walked into the heart of the University of Islamabad and blew themselves up, killing seven people and wounding 26 others.

Within hours, Qari Hussain, the man responsible for recruiting and training the Taliban's suicide bombers, laid claim to the attack in a telephone call to the BBC and said his organization now considers all Pakistan to be a war zone.

Four days into the main military offensive of Operation Rah-e-Nijat (the Path to Salvation) and Pakistan is bracing for more bloodshed. There is a clear possibility the country could plunge into civil war.

Yesterday's near-simultaneous bombings outside a packed women's cafeteria and at the Islamic law faculty were the seventh major terrorist attack in Pakistan in just two weeks.

Recent suicide bombings in Peshawar, Shangla, Kohat and Islamabad, combined with full-blown military assaults on police targets in Lahore and Peshawar and the Pakistan Army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi, have dramatically picked up the pace of a terror campaign that appears increasingly to be co-ordinated between the Pakistani Taliban and Punjabi Islamist insurgents with links to al-Qaeda.

Rather than restricting their activities to the troubled tribal areas or to slinking across the border into Afghanistan, the Taliban are threatening to spread their fight into the heart of Pakistan.

Hours after yesterday's bombings, the southern province of Sindh closed all private and public schools for a week out of fear of further Taliban attacks.

Islamist terrorism has broken out of its boundaries in the tribal belt and become a national threat. Rather than staying to fight a full-blown war with the army in the hills and gullies of South Waziristan, Hakimullah Mehsud, head of Tehrik-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP, the Pakistani Taliban), appears to have adopted a strategy of spreading chaos.

A guerrilla leader who sprang to prominence leading attacks on NATO's Afghan supply convoys in the Khyber Pass, he is now threatening to step up attacks on government services across Pakistan.

If the core of the TTP's leadership is not crushed quickly during the current military offensive, there will likely be a rash of suicide bombings, insurgent attacks and car bombings all over Pakistan.

Karachi, the country's commercial capital and home to nearly three million Pashtun tribesmen, could easily become a major terrorist target, the site of a bloody and brutal urban battle like post-war Baghdad.

The Pakistani Taliban have already shown signs they have learned the deadly trade secrets al-Qaeda employed so effectively in the Iraq insurgency. They are expanding their use of sophisticated explosives and suicide bombers with the intention of inflicting massive civilian casualties.

A stepped-up terror campaign will seek to drive a wedge between Pakistan's military and the fledgling and fractious civilian government.

It would also aim to sap public support for continuing to fight in the tribal belt.

The South Waziristan offensive is the military's fourth attempt since 2001 to crush rebels in the tribal areas. Three earlier operations bogged down in bloody fighting and ended with the government signing peace deals that ultimately allowed the Taliban to regroup, even expand their influence.

It is obvious the army has no intention of fighting a prolonged battle in South Waziristan. The 30,000 troops committed to Operation Rah-e-Nijat are nowhere near the 370,000 to 430,000 soldiers the New America Foundation says would be needed to hold the tribal areas and meet the minimum force-to-population ratios prescribed by traditional counter-insurgency doctrine.

By focusing its assault on the portion of South Waziristan occupied by the Mehsud clan, the military has already cut a non-aggression pact with other Pashtun tribal leaders who continue to send insurgents into Afghanistan to fight NATO troops.

Pakistan is only interested in crushing those elements of the Taliban that pose a direct domestic threat.(coz elimination of Afghan Taliban is not responsibility of Pak) The army in South Waziristan has agreed not to bother two rival Wazir tribal leaders, Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur, in exchange for being allowed to move freely through their districts in North Waziristan.

That's bound to infuriate the United States and NATO countries who have been pressuring Islamabad to crack down on all Taliban who are destabilizing Afghanistan.

But Pakistan's generals, the original patrons of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are reluctant to renounce the group entirely.

They fear the United States and the West may suddenly abandon the region before Afghanistan is stabilized and want to retain enough influence with the Taliban to have a say in any final settlement.

"There is always a strategy to isolate your main target," Major General Athar Abbas, Pakistan's chief military spokesman, said yesterday as he described Pakistan's understanding with elements of the Taliban in North Waziristan.

"Sometimes we have to talk to the devil in this regard."

Peter Goodspeed: All of Pakistan becoming warzone

 

[Solomon2]

Something odd has been going on...the PA has mustered two divisions for this offensive, a mere finger of its total strength. Yet it faces an enemy roughly equal in size. Since the PA has to occupy territory after the battle is won to maintain control, it needs to stick to classic military doctrine of 2-1 or 3-1 for a full victory, doesn't it?

It seems the tribes have made similar calculations, for they are refusing to coordinate their laskars with the Pakistani Army.

And why didn't the PA coordinate in advance with the coaltion in Afghanistan, to help make sure the militants can't easily escape to return and fight again another day?

 

[DaRk WaVe]

Something odd has been going on...the PA has mustered two divisions for this offensive, a mere finger of its total strength. Yet it faces an enemy roughly equal in size. Since the PA has to occupy territory after the battle is won to maintain control, it needs to stick to classic military doctrine of 2-1 or 3-1 for a full victory, doesn't it?

It seems the tribes have made similar calculations, for they are refusing to coordinate their laskars with the Pakistani Army.

And why didn't the PA coordinate in advance with the coaltion in Afghanistan, to help make sure the militants can't easily escape to return and fight again another day?

The number of Militants in these areas is 10-15,000 while PA troops number 30,000, We are doing what our resources allow us to do
I think that place will be most prorbabyl held with some PA troops & FC
Deal has been struck with some Tribes there so that there is free movement of Troops in these areas

Pakistan cuts deal with anti-American militants
Pakistan cuts deal with anti-American militants Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz


& secondly see this...

http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakistans-war/36821-us-vacates-checkposts-ahead-swa-operation.html

 

[kidwaibhai]

ok i have never heard of this newspaper or magazine in my life. what he says is wrong. karachi has a large police force plus rangers and their is a large presence of the army in the city and the surrounding area so turning it into postwar baghdad were the people were sympathetic to the fighters which the pushtons are not is highly unlikely

 

[fatman17]

However, Kotkai, a town surrounded by high mountains in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan, remained in Taliban hands late Tuesday after Pakistani forces were beaten back on the fourth day of the ground operation in South Waziristan.

they are in the process of surrounding the village - a couple of forays to test the taliban were not successful. the army will keep trying. I WOUDNT CALL IT A BATTLE REVERSE !!!

 

[fatman17]

"We gave them a really tough time in Kotkai," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said, claiming that 40 to 45 soldiers had died in the battle. He said three militants were killed and four wounded in the Kotkai battle.

exaggeration at best !!!

 

[fatman17]

Something odd has been going on...the PA has mustered two divisions for this offensive, a mere finger of its total strength. Yet it faces an enemy roughly equal in size. Since the PA has to occupy territory after the battle is won to maintain control, it needs to stick to classic military doctrine of 2-1 or 3-1 for a full victory, doesn't it?

It seems the tribes have made similar calculations, for they are refusing to coordinate their laskars with the Pakistani Army.

And why didn't the PA coordinate in advance with the coaltion in Afghanistan, to help make sure the militants can't easily escape to return and fight again another day?

and what makes u think they didnt - why is McCrystal coming and going to Isld - not to have a nice cuppa!!!

 

[fatman17]

^^^the SWA ops is hardly a week old and the DOOMSDAY scenarios have started already - reminds me of the time when the Swat/Malakand ops started and all kinds of DOOMSDAY scenarios were bandied about.

RELAX, ITS GOING TO BE A LONG HAUL, ITS NOT GOING TO BE A CAKEWALK. ITS THE TTPs LAST STAND !!!

 

[fatman17]

Karachi, the country's commercial capital and home to nearly three million Pashtun tribesmen, could easily become a major terrorist target, the site of a bloody and brutal urban battle like post-war Baghdad.

what is this guy smoking!!! this shows the depth of this crass piece of journalism!!!

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Last time pak army had an offencive in swat---the u s millitary started their own pusch in southern afghanistan---so taliban were going into afghanistan from north being pushed by pak army---and then coming back into pak from south being pushed back by u s army---what a corkscrew---.

 

[fatman17]

Battle for Kotkai intensifies as 20 Taliban killed

* Four soldiers killed in Taliban attack on positions around Hakeemullah’s hometown

Staff Report

TANK: The army killed 20 Taliban on the fourth day of Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in South Waziristan, the military said on Tuesday, as troops intensified the battle for control of Kotkai.

The Taliban claimed they killed seven soldiers in an attack, but the army said only four soldiers had been killed in the assault on positions around Kotkai – the hometown of TTP leader Hakeemullah Mehsud and trainer of suicide bombers Qari Hussain. The Taliban casualties have taken the death toll to 91 since the launch of the operation on October 16. “We are consolidating our positions around Kotkai, and control of this town will pave the way for deeper advances towards Makeen and other strongholds of the Taliban,” said military officials.

They said troops battling their way into Kotkai were facing resistance from the Taliban. “Fierce fighting going with the Taliban is in progress... we have to take full control of the town before we move deeper into Taliban territory,” said the officials.

An ISPR statement said security forces were consolidating their positions on Jandola, and extending a security perimeter around Kaskai and Shisanwam. It said Taliban from surrounding heights were engaging forces with rockets and small arms. The army said important heights surrounding Sherwangi had also been secured, and “Taliban are abandoning their positions”. Troops also seized arms and ammunition during the course of the operation’s fourth day. Long-range artillery, helicopter gunships and jet fighters are backing ground troops in the operation, fleeing residents told reporters in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.

Meanwhile, the Taliban warned Mehsud elders against support to the military. “We call on Mehsud leaders not to support or speak in favour of the government. If any Mehsud tribesman collaborates with the government or speaks in their favour, stern action will be taken against them,” Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told BBC.

 

[fatman17]

US encouraged by South Waziristan offensive: Gates

ON BOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT: US Secretary of State Robert Gates on Tuesday said he was encouraged by the Pakistani offensive against Taliban but that it was too soon to judge the outcome. “I’m obviously encouraged by the Pakistani operations,” Gates told reporters aboard his aircraft en route to Tokyo. “I think that the terrorist attacks that have been launched inside Pakistan in recent days made clear the need to begin to deal with this problem,” he said. “And so we obviously are very supportive of what the Pakistanis are doing. But [still] it’s very early,” he said, adding the operation had “only been underway a few days”.

afp