The South Waziristan offensive seems to be well underway, and heavy fighting between the 30,000 Pakistani soldiers and the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has already been reported.

According to the Pakistani military, at least 60 militants were killed in the fighting so far. Six soldiers were also slain in the initial push of the fight, which has already displaced over 150,000 civilians.

The TTP told a completely different story, however, claiming to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Pakistani military while only taking minimal losses. There is no independent media on the ground in South Waziristan, making the truth virtually impossible to ascertain.

Pakistan has long been under pressure from the US to launch offensives against the militants in Waziristan, but the TTP is chiefly involved in fighting along Pakistan’s tribal areas and has only cursory ties to the Afghan insurgency, meaning the offensive will likely have little impact on the NATO war in Afghanistan.

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