Pakistan troops 'capture Taliban base in Bajaur'

[dabong1]

A major Taliban base in the north-western tribal region of Bajaur has been captured by Pakistani troops after days of fierce fighting, officials say.

Troops are now advancing on the militants' main training area in the Damadola district of Bajaur.

Local residents say hundreds of people are fleeing the area to escape the fighting.

Militants have recently re-established themselves in Bajaur after a military offensive drove them out in 2008.

Security forces overran the Sewai area in the Mamund district of Bajaur on Sunday night, a senior official in Bajaur's main town, Khar, told the BBC's Urdu service.

The official said that troops had captured several important heights in the area during Monday's fighting.

The army has been pounding Taliban positions using fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

At least 15 militants and one soldier were reported killed.

Deteriorating security

In February 2009, the army said Bajaur had been cleared of Taliban militants following a military operation launched in August 2008.

But recently the security situation has been deteriorating.

Correspondents say that numerous attacks over the last six months show the militants still maintain a significant presence in the area.

Close to the Afghan border, Bajaur has long been suspected of being a possible hiding-place of Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other top al-Qaeda leaders.

Pakistan's military has been focusing on a major offensive, launched in October 2008 in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan.

But some analysts say that military operation has simply displaced militants to other parts of the tribal belt.
BBC News - Pakistan troops 'capture Taliban base in Bajaur'

 

[Awesome]

I hope there's some video floating around of this...

 

[sairaawais]

Three cheers for Pakistan Army. But who is responsible for the heavy loses of our soldiers lives. Does any one ever think on these lines?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The Army has argued that the Khan of Konar has been responsible for sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants in the Konar province in Afghanistan. Recall that when the Bajaur Operation was first launched, Qari Zia-ur-Rehman (an Afghan Taliban commander) came into Bajaur from Afghanistan with about a thousand fighters to support Faqir Mohammed (the Bajaur Taliban commander).

There have also been several other operations against Pakistani forces out of Afghanistan in that region numbering several hundred militants, indicating an established militant infrastructure on the Afghan side.

US forces have recently withdrawn from the Eastern provinces of Afghanistan, essentially letting Taliban groups, Afghan and Pakistani, establish safe havens there.

Of late, Mullah Fazlullah (Swat TTP) claimed in a telephone call that he was now safely in Afghanistan and would re-laucnh his resistance in Swat from there. Given the proximity to Bajaur it is suspected that he is in Konar.

Militants associated with Qari-Zia-ur Rehman have also been reported as saying that they would re-launch resistance in Bajaur and Mohmand from Konar, and we have seen an uptick in violence since then.

 

[S-2]

"US forces have recently withdrawn from the Eastern provinces of Afghanistan, essentially letting Taliban groups, Afghan and Pakistani, establish safe havens there."

This is completely untrue-

Afghanistan Order of Battle By Regional Command-January 2010 Institute For The Study Of War

Wrong...again.

Thanks.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

"US forces have recently withdrawn from the Eastern provinces of Afghanistan, essentially letting Taliban groups, Afghan and Pakistani, establish safe havens there."

This is completely untrue-

Afghanistan Order of Battle By Regional Command-January 2010 Institute For The Study Of War

Wrong...again.

Thanks.

So the following is incorrect (it is from October and things may have changed since then)?

A press department of US forces stationed in Jalal-Abad Capital of Nangrahar said US forces officials say their troops withdrew form Korangal area of Konar province.

If so, then did the McChrystal plan of moving out of the sparsely populated areas to defend the more heavily populated areas change?

If US forces are still present in all of Konar and actively conducting military operations, then the presence of such Taliban numbers and infrastructure would indicate a severe lack of resources on the US side.

Perhaps those drone attacks should be used to clean up house on the Afghan side first.

 

[iioal malik]

Three cheers for Pakistan Army. But who is responsible for the heavy loses of our soldiers lives. Does any one ever think on these lines?

What a stupied ques.....without any doubt Retired General Pervez Musharraf is responsible for all that happeing in pakistan

 

[waraich66]

PA defeated Talaban in Bajour in Feb 2009 , now again they are fighting ,it means Talaban recaptured or regain control of that area, retain victory in FATA is not practically possible due to mountain region.

 

[S-2]

Korengal represents one very small valley in a province that's nothing but very small and tight valleys.

Let's stay away from the strawman-constructed inferences and stick with the facts. It's just been proved that you're not entirely on top of those. How much more so might be the only inference worth entertaining at this point.

Thanks.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Korengal represents one very small valley in a province that's nothing but very small and tight valleys.

Let's stay away from the strawman-constructed inferences and stick with the facts. It's just been proved that you're not entirely on top of those. How much more so might be the only inference worth entertaining at this point.

Thanks.

Right 'small enough' to where thousands of Taliban fighters under Qari Zia-ur-Rehman can train and shelter, and be able to send a force of around a thousand at least once to assist Faqir Mohammed in Bajaur, and also launch smaller raids with militants numbering in the hundreds into Pakistan.

'Small enough' to where Mullah Fazlullah might be sheltering and 'small enough' to where the Taliban movement in Bajaur and Mohmand is being reinvigorated from this territory.

The only thing established at this point is the duplicity of the US and its apologists and trying to excuse away their failures and the fact that their failures allow thousands of Pakistani and Afghan Taliban to have sanctuary on Afghan soil in territory 'under their control'.

If this is the status of territory under NATO control, then it reflects extremely poorly on either your intentions to combat this threat or your capacity to do so, or perhaps both.

Something obviously is not quite 'Kosher' with the US presence given that, as you claim, its a 'small' area and yet has all this Taliban activity being directed into Pakistan from it.

 

[sairaawais]

I dont think that General Pervaiz Musharraf is responsible. The whole nation is responsible for the loss of lives of our soldiers. No one speaks about it ...No one criticeses it...all the fuss is about the war on terrorism....

 

[Slides]

I dont think that General Pervaiz Musharraf is responsible. The whole nation is responsible for the loss of lives of our soldiers. No one speaks about it ...No one criticeses it...all the fuss is about the war on terrorism....

This is our war of terrorism, but you're right, pro terrorist elements are always quiet.

 

[Slides]

The Bajaur situation is not new. Afghanistan has served as a safe haven for taliban across the border as evidenced by villages that the PA had to clear inside Afghanistan that were overlooking our positions and NATO was absent.

On one hand NATO and the mayor of Kabul wants safe havens inside Pakistan destroyed, on the other hand the Afghans do not even want to recognize the border as the official border and stop us from even putting into place rudimentary checks at official crossings. You can go to Chaman and see for yourself that all of the checking is happening on Pak's side, while there is no control on Afghan side. And NATO is unable to commit enough troops to control areas under its jurisdiction but is constantly annoyed that even single soldier and reserve unit is not in the fight all over Pakistan.

Here's Gen (retd.) Ehsan-ul-Haq's take on the situation (must watch):