According to reports citing an unnamed Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) source, TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud and his followers have agreed to leave the North Waziristan Agency after being asked to by warlord Hafiz Bahadur, who has a tenuous peace deal with the Pakistani government.
Since taking control of the TTP last August, Hakimullah has turned the group from a little known umbrella group in Pakistani tribal regions into one of the most aggressive militant outfits in central Asia, and has cultivated a personal reputation for surviving assassination attempts that has become almost ridiculous: Hakimullah has been “confirmed” killed on at least seven separate occasions since August.
Having apparently left North Waziristan at the very time when the US government is agitating for a Pakistani military invasion of the region, Hakimullah and the TTP leadership are said to be returning to South Waziristan, their traditional home territory.
South Waziristan was invaded late last year by the Pakistani military, an offensive that officals lauded as a great “success” but which failed to kill or capture any significant TTP figures. The military has virtually left South Waziristan at this point and is attacking Orakzai Agency, which will leave the TTP free to return to their starting positions unchallenged.
It is a story which has recurred in many parts of northern Pakistan, including the Swat Valley and twice in Bajaur. While the Pakistani military is good at blowing up “suspected” homes and driving hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes, the offensives ultimately accomplish very little and the militants simply move on until the attack finishes and then return. The “victory” in South Waziristan, as with so many other places, has proven short-lived.
When I used to go to the arcade to play whack-a-mole, it cost me a couple of quarters. When the US pays the Pakistanis to play whack-a-mole, it costs a couple of billion dollars.
I don't know why I don't hear it more often: "Osama bin Laden's plan is succeeding magnificently. Perhaps it's a truth just too painful to bear or say out loud. Bush and Cheney were Osama's suckers/partners par excellence. Obama, charisma and rhetoric in front, is all spineless and clueless behind. playing punk boy to Bushes leftovers, Gates, Patraeus, McChrystal. The four of them are Osama's new dream team.
Between Osama, the Israelis, and the MICC, the puppetmasters are violating the American sheeple in every orifice and in every way.
Got an exit strategy? Time to think about it, maybe?
Whoops! I forgot to mention: Osama on Sesame Street says, "Can you spell "B-A-N-K-R-U-P-T-C-Y" ?
The US military did quite a bit of wild-goose chase in Iraq, finally we gave money to those who were fighting the military and got out of that mode. We are doing a similar thing in Afghanistan and are now looking for 'good Taliban' there. The war-mongers here want Pakistan, the client state, to do a similar thing. What Pakistan will get out of it (except for our tax money) is anybody's guess, but in the end they too would probably be permitted to negotiate with the 'good Taliban'.