A report from the battle zone in Swat says the Taliban appear to be running short of money, men and weapons. They are seeking a fighter from each family, a Kalashnikov, or a 50,000 rupees donation. The report has emanated from Kanju, located south of Mingora with access to the Kabal and Matta tehsils. It says the Taliban held a jirga with the residents of the Hazara area in Kabal tehsil in a mosque on Saturday and told them they were running short of ammunition and also needed guns, and urged the people not to leave for safer places.
In Mingora itself where the Taliban committed unforgivable atrocities on the local inhabitants, the message from the warlord Fazlullah is that he has decided not to take on the Pakistan Army because he wanted to prevent the killing of the local population in collateral damage. Admitting that his men had left Mingora, he however attributed it to the humanitarian urge of his warriors. But the people of Mingora know him very well. Back in the camps of Mardan and Swabi they recall that foreigners who could not speak Pashto were used by Fazlullah to behead innocent people.
The people of Mingora have also seen that the man who took an active part in the lynching of innocent people at a square of the city has been put to death by the Pakistan Army. Many killers have been arrested and taken away. The Taliban can win easily against ordinary unarmed citizens; they tend to start melting away when faced by the Army. The operation in Swat has exposed the vulnerabilities of the Taliban elsewhere too. Forced to mobilise on a big scale in South Waziristan, Mohmand and Orakzai, they have had to expose their Uzbek and Arab warriors to the Pakistan Army, resulting in their capture. Knowledge of their tactics by now should enable us to predict their behaviour.
The Taliban will melt away. They will begin recovering from the shock they have received from the Army. The trend of kidnappings will become strong to fill the fast-emptying kitty of the Taliban warlord. Funds will be sought from the Arabs in the Gulf who think that the Taliban are busy defeating the Americans in Pakistan. And more weapons will be inducted into the region. Now is the time to broaden and intensify the war against the Taliban and not give them time to regroup and come back again.