[Reader-list] 140,000 troops in FATA

[S. Jabbar]

FRONT-PAGE
ŒPakistan has moved 100,000 troops from eastern border¹

By Our Correspondent

Friday, 30 Apr, 2010 | 01:38 AM PST |
 
 
WASHINGTON: Pakistan has deployed 140,000 troops in Fata, moving at least
100,000 soldiers from the Indian border to back up its Œunprecedented¹
crackdown on militants along the Afghan border, says a Pentagon report.

In its mandatory report to the US Congress on the situation in the
Pakistan-Afghan region, the Pentagon notes that the deployment is the
biggest in the country¹s history on the western border.

³This unprecedented deployment and thinning of the lines against India
indicates that Islamabad has acknowledged its domestic insurgent threat.²

The Pentagon also acknowledges that Pakistani military operations in the
tribal regions have had an impact across the border, placing a ³high degree
of pressure on enemy forces and reduced insurgent safe haven² in eastern
Afghanistan. 

The Pentagon informs Congress that recent arrests by Pakistan of Afghan
Taliban leaders, including the group¹s No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,
have ³increased insurgent leaders¹ concern over the security of their safe
havens² and created ³financial and logistical² problems for them.

This assessment contrasts sharply with the Afghan claim ‹ backed by India ‹
that the arrests have weakened Kabul¹s efforts to seek a negotiated
settlement with the Taliban leadership.

The report quotes a senior US defence official as saying that the arrests in
Pakistan produced ³a lot of concerned chatter² among Taliban sympathisers in
Afghanistan, but there¹s no indication of ³a leadership crisis in the
Taliban². 

The Pentagon notes that so far the crackdown in Pakistan is focused almost
exclusively on internal threats and that¹s why it¹s not having any
³significant impact on the Afghan insurgency in the short term².

But the crackdown ³offers opportunities in coming months to have a greater
impact on the conflict in Afghanistan depending on how PAKMIL (Pakistani
military) operations evolve,² the report adds.

³Pakistan has suffered attacks from terrorists in response to its successful
operations. These attacks include mass casualty events in Mingora, South
Waziristan agency close to clearing operations as well as in Lahore, far
away from the fighting. ³While these attacks do not appear to have shaken
Pakistan¹s commitment, they do demonstrate, for the time being, insurgent
ability to continue attacks despite successful Pakistani operations,² the
report warns.

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