Friday, February 24, 2006

Afghan War: The Pakistan front closes down (one side does, at least)

We've heard since 2002 that the most likely hiding place for Bin Laden is somewhere on either side of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.  The northwestern Waziristan part of Pakistan is a strongly Islamic fundamentalist area and has long been considered scarcely governable by the national government.  The Pakistani army has supposedly been actively hunting Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda cadre there for years. 

Now they're saying they are going to stop:  Waziristan action suspended Dawn (Pakistan) 02/24/06

The report says:

NWFP [North-Western Frontier Province] Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman has said the government has suspended operations in North Waziristan Agency because it believes that tribesmen are able to restore peace and normalcy through their own customs and traditions.

“It doesn’t mean that the govt has backed out of its earlier determination. Rather we want to show that the tribesmen can improve the situation themselves,” he added.

“However, if there is no improvement, the operations will resume with full vigour and severity,” he warned.

No comments: