Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Taliban Bombs, Threatens Anti-Militant Political Party

Deadly Suicide Attack Targets Official In Pakistan, NPR, 26 July 2010

EXCERPT: "A Taliban suicide bomber struck Monday near the home of a Pakistani provincial minister whose only son was recently killed by the militants, officials said. Seven people were killed and 25 wounded. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province and an outspoken critic of the Taliban, was the apparent target. He was receiving condolences from visitors elsewhere in Pabbi town at the time of the blast and was safe. Some of his relatives were also receiving mourners at a mosque near the house, and two were hurt, police said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying their goal was to kill Hussain because his political party is allied with the United States. The Awami National Party is a secular-leaning political group that has been outspoken against militant activity in Pakistan. 'This is just beginning,' Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone. 'We will carry out more attacks against the party. We will destroy their roots.' The attack showed the dangers facing those in Pakistan who take high-profile positions against the Islamist militants who have wreaked havoc in the country over the last several years. Hussain is frequently the official who shows up at the scenes of bombings in the northwestern province to condemn the Taliban and allied insurgent factions."

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Related articles:
Taliban claim responsibility for killing minister’s son, DAWN, 26 July 2010
Suicide blast near Pakistan politician kills 8, Reuters Canada, 26 July 2010

Related posts:
Terrorists launch attacks as govt arrests hundreds of suspected militants, 13 July 2010
Suicide bombers strike Govt office, kill dozens in NW, 9 July 2010
Pakistan army finds Taliban tough to root out, 5 July 2010
Govt efforts at Taliban reconciliation complicated by Haqqani's ties to Al-Qaeda, 30 June 2010
Pakistani police underfunded, overwhelmed, 30 November 2009

Drones Hinder Operations, but Help Recruitment: Taliban

Mapping US Drone and Islamic Militant Attacks in Pakistan: Secret War, BBC News, 22 July 2010

EXCERPT: "In recent years, with the absence of decisive Pakistani military action in the area, America decided the best way to kill those deemed a risk to US security was by firing missiles at them from unmanned aircraft. The use of these planes in the tribal areas of Pakistan began under the watch of President George W Bush, but has increased markedly since his successor Barack Obama took office. [...] One resident, Sher Ahmad Wazir, from Mir Ali in North Waziristan, said: 'I'm against the drone attacks because a lot of civilians die. What does America want from us? Our government should not side with the Americans.' But Zahid (not his real name), from Wana, in South Waziristan, said: 'I think the drone strikes are good: they target the right people, the terrorists.' Bahar Wazir, from Shawal, North Waziristan, said: 'I prefer the drone attacks to army ground operations, because in the operations we get killed and the [Pakistani] army doesn't respect the honour of our men or women.' [...] The Taliban admit that the drone attacks have disrupted their operations. 'In the short term, yes, you can say it has caused us some difficulties because of the martyrdoms and realignment of our ranks,' says a Taliban spokesman, Muhammed Umer. 'But our command and control system is very strong and well established, so we won't be affected for long,' he adds. 'Instead we get new courage, becoming more powerful with the flow of new blood.'"

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Related articles:
Taliban says US drone attacks "temporarily" hindering insurgency, The Guardian, 23 July 2010
Mapping US drone and Islamic militant attacks in Pakistan [graphs and maps], BBC News, 22 July 2010
Pakistan's drone dilemma, DAWN, 18 July 2010

Related posts:
Al-Qaeda commander killed in S. Waziristan drone strike, 30 June 2010
The AfPak war and drones: Failures of success, 9 April 2010
Drones force militants to adjust tactics, 6 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010
Drone attacks: Pakistan’s policy and the tribesmen’s perspective, 12 March 2010

Militants Kill 18 in Civilian Convoy Ambush

Militants Ambush Convoy in Pakistan, The Nation, 17 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Suspected militants in a Pakistani tribal region on the Afghan border ambushed a convoy of vehicles being escorted by security forces today, killing 18 people, including two women, witnesses said. Militants opened fire on civilian vehicles in the convoy as it headed to the main northwestern city of Peshawar from Parachinar, the main town of the Pashtun-dominated Kurram region where the army has killed nearly 100 militants in operations in the past few months. [...] Militants have gone on the offensive again after a recent lull in violence, challenging government assertions that a major assault in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan along with smaller operations in other regions had dealt a major blow to insurgents. The road linking Kurram with Peshawar often remains closed because of militants and Pakistan army operations, forcing people to take a circuitous route through Afghanistan to travel to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and its capital, Peshawar."

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Related articles:
Suicide attack on Pakistan mosque, Al Jazeera, 19 July 2010
Explosions hit Pak-Afghan highway, The Hindu, 19 July 2010

Related posts:
Afghanistan urges Pakistan to target terror groups, 6 July 2010
Peshawar braces for possible Taliban fight, 29 June 2010
Taliban regroup in areas thought secure, 24 June 2010
Pakistan fails to protect religious minorities from violence, discrimination: Report, 29 April 2010
Deadly bomb attack strikes Peshawar, 12 March 2010

Fatal Market Blast in Khyber

Pakistan Market Bomb Kills 10, AFP, 16 July 2010

EXCERPT: "A bomb blast ripped through a busy car market in Pakistan's infamous tribal district of Khyber on Friday, killing 10 civilians including children, officials said. The explosion rocked Kuki Khel town in Khyber, on the NATO supply route into Afghanistan and part of Pakistan's tribal belt that Washington considers an Al-Qaeda headquarters and the most dangerous region on Earth. 'Ten people have been killed, there were three children among the dead. Fourteen people were wounded in the blast,' Khyber district senior official Shafeerullah Khan told AFP. The timed device was planted in a ditch in a crowded market where people buy and sell second-hand cars, he said. Two intelligence officials also confirmed the death toll saying three shops and four cars were destroyed. Officials described the area as a stronghold of Lashkar-e-Islam, a homegrown militant group that has carried out Islamist vigilante-style campaigns, kidnappings, shootings and attacks in Khyber."

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Related articles:
Bomb at used car market in Khyber, Pakistan, kills six, BBC News, 16 July 2010
Bombing in Pakistan market kills eight, The Hindu, 16 July 2010
Taliban dynamite two "spies" in Pakistan [North Waziristan], AFP, 17 July 2010

Related posts:
Suicide blast kills 5 in Swat, 15 July 2010
Suicide bombers strike govt office, kill dozens in NW, 9 July 2010
Twin bombings kill dozens, 18 February 2010
Suicide bombings kill policemen, civilians in Khyber, 10 February 2010
Khyber agency military offensive advances, 1 December 2009

Kurram Agency Faces a "Humanitarian Crisis": Officials

Officials: Isolated Pakistani Region Faces Humanitarian Crisis, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 13 July 2010

EXCERPT: "I.A. Rehman, the chairman of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission, says that people in Kurram Agency are facing a humanitarian crisis. Jawad Hussain, a member of the National Assembly from Kurram, says the region has been cut off from the rest of the country for the last three years. He says various Taliban groups dominate the main route between Thal and Parachinar, which in turn connects Kurram with Pakistan's main urban centers. 'Our people are forced to travel through the hard and mountainous regions of Afghanistan to reach the cities of Peshawar and Islamabad of Pakistan,' Hussain says. [...] Last week, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying passengers from Parachinar to the provincial capital of Peshawar. [...] The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said in a recent report that it has become extremely difficult to provide relief to the sick in Kurram. It noted that medical supplies are becoming increasingly scarce and even hospitals have been attacked."

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Related articles:
Congressional gridlock reaches to Pakistan's tribes [OpEd], The Washington Post, 15 July 2010
Fight against militancy: Still a long way to go, The Express Tribune, 12 July 2010
Pakistani tribesmen killed on "safe" Afghan diversion, BBC News, 10 July 2010

Related posts:
The missing dimension of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency policy, 13 July 2010
Border areas show signs of insecurity despite claims of progress, 9 July 2010
Army, tribal leaders offer conflicting views on reconstruction progress, 8 July 2010
Taliban regroup in areas thought secure, 24 June 2010
Govt to invest in border areas to tackle militancy, 31 May 2010

The Missing Dimension of Pakistan’s Counterinsurgency Policy

The Missing Dimension of Pakistan’s Counterinsurgency Policy, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 10 July 2010

EXCERPT: "The continued military operations against the Taliban, their supporters, and Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan's tribal and settled regions have regularly shifted from one area to another over the past few years. But a decisive victory against the militants still seems to be no more than wishful thinking, as the latter continuously change positions and open new bases as soon as they are dislodged from their previous ones. Clearly, the so-called war on terror in Pakistan has only multiplied the despair of the already frustrated, impoverished, neglected, and dispossessed people of the tribal areas who straddle the ill-defined border region with Afghanistan. And even more insulting to these people is the fact that this war seems to have turned into little more than a public-relations numbers game with no chance of bringing any positive results. [...] The military’s scattershot security operations over the last eight years have not produced results because they have not been backed by a serious political strategy of development projects in the cleared districts."

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Related articles:
IDPs reluctant to return, IRIN News, 11 July 2010
PM decries lack of international help, DAWN, 7 July 2010

Related posts:
Border areas show signs of insecurity despite claims of progress, 9 July 2010
Army, tribal leaders offer conflicting views on reconstruction progress, 8 July 2010
Taliban regroup in areas thought secure, 24 June 2010
Locals fear militant comeback after army declares Orakzai "victory", 14 June 2010
Overview: What have Pakistani offensives achieved?, 27 April 2010

Distrust Slows U.S. Training of Pakistanis

Distrust Slows U.S. Training of Pakistanis, The New York Times, 12 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Nearly 250 Pakistani paramilitary troops in khaki uniforms and green berets snapped to attention, with top students accepting a certificate from an American Army colonel after completing the specialized training for snipers and platoon and company leaders. But this new center, 20 miles from the Afghanistan border, was built to train as many as 2,000 soldiers at a time. The largest component of the American-financed instruction — a 10-week basic-training course — is months behind schedule, officials from both sides acknowledge, in part because Pakistani commanders say they cannot afford to send troops for new training as fighting intensifies in the border areas. Pakistan also restricts the number of American trainers throughout the country to no more than about 120 Special Operations personnel, fearful of being identified too closely with the unpopular United States — even though the Americans reimburse Pakistan more than $1 billion a year for its military operations in the border areas. [...] Today the American-led war in Afghanistan and its continuing campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas have made the United States suspect at all levels of the military, and among the Pakistani population, as anti-Americanism has hit new heights. This training program is among the first steps to repair that relationship."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
U.S.' "10 week training" of Pak paramilitary troops facing hurdles, Sify News, 12 July 2010
Pakistan forces kill Taliban chief allegedly responsible for attack on US troops, TodayOnline, 12 July 2010

Related posts:
Analysis of Obama’s counter-terrorism goals in AfPak, 8 July 2010
Taliban regroup in areas thought secure, 22 June 2010
US praises Pakistan's "excellent cooperation"; security pledge made, 19 May 2010
US-Pakistan relationship uncertain: Brief, 29 March 2010
CIA: ISI worth the money, 16 November 2009

Army Tries "Hearts and Minds" Strategy in Balochistan

Pakistan Tries New Counterinsurgency Strategy, The Associated Press, 10 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Echoing U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in neighboring Afghanistan, the army has peppered Baluchistan with dozens of development projects to win hearts and minds, an effort officials say has accelerated in recent months alongside a push by the federal government to address local grievances. Pakistan hopes to replicate this counterinsurgency strategy in other areas along the Afghan border where the army is battling a separate rebellion led by the Pakistani Taliban. But like the U.S. effort in Afghanistan, many observers are skeptical Pakistan's recent push in Baluchistan will succeed given the deep distrust of the state and security forces. 'They are unable to pacify the people because the political and economic alienation of the local population is huge,' said Riffat Hussain, professor of defense studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. Baluchistan remains Pakistan's poorest province despite the presence of vast natural resources that residents complain are mainly exploited to fill the central government's coffers. They also chafe under what they view as effective military rule."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Gunmen shoot dead National Party leader in Balochistan, BBC News, 12 July 2010
The missing dimension of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency policy, Radio Free Europe, 10 July 2010
Fashionable dreams in Pakistan's turbulent Baluchistan, AFP, 7 July 2010

Related posts:
Border areas show signs of insecurity despite claims of progress, 9 July 2010
Govt works to tame Taliban and nationalist sympathies in Balochistan, 7 July 2010
Pakistan army finds Taliban tough to root out, 5 July 2010
Failed counterinsurgency strategy leads to rising number of US terror plots: Report, 21 June 2010
Baloch nationalism offers strong resistance to govt efforts, 30 March 2010

Govt Blames Afghan Militants for Bombings

Pakistan Blames Militants from Afghanistan for Bombing, BBC News, 12 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistan's interior minister says Nato and Afghanistan are not doing enough to stop Taliban militants crossing the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Rehman Malik told the BBC he blamed militants coming from Afghanistan for Friday's attack in Mohmand district. The attack, the deadliest in Pakistan this year, killed more than 100 people. Nato's Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said militants crossing the border was a 'matter of concern' and a major problem in Afghanistan too. [...] Friday's devastating bombing happened in an area the Pakistani government had recently claimed had been cleared of militants and said was safe for civilians to return to. Mr Malik disputed the widely-held belief that Pakistani militants are freely heading in the other direction to fight coalition troops. He said he had intelligence information to prove that the attackers had crossed the border from Afghanistan."

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Related articles:
Terrorists retaliate as many of them arrested, killed in Pakistan following Friday's suicide attack, China View, 12 July 2010
Terrorists infiltrating into Pak through Afghan border: Malik, One India, 12 July 2010
Target: Civilians [op-ed], DAWN, 11 July 2010
Bombs kill more than 100 in Pakistani market, The National, 10 July 2010
Pakistani military, Taliban clash in South Waziristan, The Long War Journal, 10 July 2010

Related posts:
Afghanistan urges Pakistan to target terror groups, 6 July 2010
Taliban regroup in areas thought secure, 24 June 2010
Millions suffer from Taliban abuse: Amnesty report, 10 June 2010
Pakistan fails to protect religious minorities from violence, discrimination: Report, 29 April 2010

Petraeus Praises Counter-terror Efforts

Petraeus Praises Pakistan in Surprise Visit, The Associated Press, 12 July 2010

EXCERPT: "U.S. Gen. David Petraeus lauded Pakistan's efforts at battling Islamist militants Monday during his first visit here since taking over as top NATO commander in neighboring Afghanistan this month. But he avoided public mention of the complicated tug of war between the two countries over the presence in Pakistan's border regions of militants launching attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan is embroiled in military operations against Pakistani Taliban fighters in its volatile northwest. One of Petraeus's main challenges as NATO commander will be to try to persuade its leaders to also turn their sights toward Afghan Taliban based in Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas. [...]  'Recent events demonstrate both the common threat posed to Pakistan and Afghanistan by insurgents and the efforts that the Pakistan military are making to counter this threat,' Petraeus said in a statement after meeting with Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. 'I look forward to continuing to work with General Kayani to identify areas of mutual interest and to cooperate in efforts that can help improve regional security,' he said. [...] Pakistan has so far resisted U.S. pressure to act against Afghan Taliban. Analysts say Pakistan's military believes the Taliban could be useful allies in Afghanistan once international forces withdraw."

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Related articles:
Kayani meets Petraeus: Pak to be taken on board on any policy on Afghanistan, The Nation, 12 July 2010
Lashkar main Taliban ally in Afghanistan: US forces, Times of India, 12 July 2010
US wants Pak military action against Haqqani network in North Waziristan, Sify News, 12 July 2010
US military begins to link Afghan Taliban to Pakistani terror groups [blog], The Long War Journal, 11 July 2010

Related posts:
Pakistan "essential" in Afghan reconciliation process: Petraeus, 29 June 2010
Pakistan efforts to broker Afghan-Haqqani peace "undermine US interests", 25 June 2010
US praises Pakistan's "excellent cooperation"; security pledge made, 19 May 2010
Pakistan seeks to broker Afghan deal, 16 June 2010
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran promise increased regional cooperation, 19 January 2010