Pakistan Still Balking at US Demands for North Waziristan Invasion

Though the Obama Administration continues to ratchet up pressure on the Pakistani government to launch a massive invasion of the North Waziristan Agency, the largely uncontrolled region in which US drone strikes have become an almost daily occurrence, the Pakistani government is still said to be rejecticng the calls, insisting the US demands won’t “rush” them into launch the long-promised offensive.

The US is keen on seeing Pakistan’s military tackle the Haqqani network, which is extremely active in Afghanistan but based in North Waziristan. The Pakistani military is struggling with a number of other offensives in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, however, and its most recent US-mandated invasions haven’t gone particularly well, displacing massive numbers of civilians but netting almost no militant leaders.

But this is only part of the issue, according to some experts. Pakistan’s government is also reported to be keen on seeing Haqqani included in the much-vaunted Afghanistan peace process. The US insists the Haqqanis (as well indeed as most of the insurgency’s leadership) are part of the “irreconcilable” portion and can’t be allowed to participate.

Furthermore, the growing consensus from media reports is that the “peace talks” really aren’t going on in the first place, and that therefore there isn’t a process to include the Haqqanis in. With officials now insisting the lies about the talks were part of a NATO scheme to harm Taliban morale, the claims may have also had the side effect of giving Pakistan yet another reason to balk at the invasion the US wants most of all.