Hunting for Al Qaeda in Waziristan

By Amir Mir in Lahore 

 Lt Gen Bruno made his statement during a meeting of the Tripartite Commission of the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan that was held in Islamabad. According to Pakistani media reports, he was of the view that remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda were planning to stage some high visibility attack over the next six to nine months that would get them back on the scoreboard after suffering major strategic defeats.
 
"The coming spring would therefore see a fresh operation in North Waziristan to nip their planned offensive in the bud", Lt Gen Bruno was quoted as saying by the Pakistani media.

The Pakistan Army has been fighting the invisible enemies in South Waziristan for more than a year without much success. Often times, it gives an impression that it has failed. But whatever truth might be, the statements and counter statements by Lt Gen David Bruno and Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan clearly indicate one thing that the trouble in the Waziristan region is far from over.

Nobody knows what is actually going on in the Waziristan area as the military authorities have banned the entry of journalists into the region. Therefore, the only source of information is Director General Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] Major General Shaukat Sultan, whose information is contested by the opposition and the media in public. Earlier, in February 2005, the Pakistan Army signed a peace agreement with Baitullah Mahsud, the chieftain of the Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan. However, the agreement seems in jeopardy after Haji Muhammad Omar, the commander of the tribal militants who made peace with the authorities has warned the authorities that the situation could deteriorate again if the Army failed to implement the reconciliation agreement. And apparently, the al-Qaeda and the Taliban operatives hiding in the area are taking advantage of the present mess.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province are located on the Pakistan side of the 2,400 kilometer long and porous border with Afghanistan which had a population of 5.7 million according to a 1998 national census. There are seven tribal areas: Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, Mohmand, Bajaur, North Waziristan and South Waziristan, all dominated by Pashtun tribes. The tribal areas, or agencies as they are often called, were created by the British to serve as a buffer  between undivided India and Afghanistan. The British devised a special system of political administration to govern the Pashtun tribes who resisted colonial rule with fierce determination.

The tribal people were granted maximum autonomy and allowed to run their affairs in accordance with their Islamic faith, customs and traditions. Tribal elders, known as maliks, were given special favours by the British in return for services such as  maintaining peace and apprehending anti-state and anti-social elements. And basically, this system still exists today, and the Pakistani courts and police have no jurisdiction in tribal areas. Broadly, people in the tribal areas can be categorized as being pro-Pakistan, or not.

The religious element can be found mostly in South Waziristan and North Waziristan, and they also support or are sympathetic to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The most troublesome areas in Afghanistan -- Ghazni, Argon, Shakin, and Paktia, are located on the borders of the Waziristan region. The mountains and thick jungles of the border areas are the places where first the Afghan resistance and now the Pakistani tribal fighters have taken refuge. There are already 50,000 Afghan refugees living in the Waziristan area- some of whom took refuge in Pakistan when the former USSR attacked Afghanistan way back in the 1980s.

A sizeable number of tribesmen from the Waziristan region took part in the US-backed Afghan jehad against the Soviet occupation troops in Afghanistan. Subsequently, most of them fought alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance and the US. The tribesmen, who are born fighters and learn the use of guns at an early age in keeping with local traditions, acquired more sophisticated fighting skills during the long years of the Afghan war. Those skills enabled the militant tribesmen to put up fierce resistance to the Pakistan Army and execute ambushes, plant landmines and fire rockets despite being outnumbered and outgunned.

Subsequent heavy losses suffered by the Pakistan Army eventually compelled the higher authorities to suspend the military campaign and go for peace pacts with the local tribes. The first such accord was signed at Shakai with Wazir warlord Nek Muhammad in April 2004. He broke it and was killed by the Pakistan Army through a laser guided missile.

The second agreement was signed at Sararogha in February 2005 with Baitullah Mahsud. Interestingly, the pact with Baitullah Mahsud did not forbid Abdullah Mahsud, the most wanted fugitive from the Mahsud tribe, from attacking the American forces across the border in Afghanistan.

At the same time, the pact did not require that he surrenders the foreign terrorists allegedly taking shelter with him; it simply bound him not to attack the Pakistan Army or state assets and not give shelter to foreign terrorists. It did not bind him to lay down arms or not fight across the Durand Line. The man clearly swears allegiance to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban ameer. Abdullah Mahsud goes around in a bullet-proof car and is followed around by 30 armed guards and has two castle-like houses in North and South Waziristan. As Abdullah Mahsud has apparently failed to honour his side of the bargain, the Pakistan Army has once again been asked by the US to launch a fresh operation in its territory.

The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Bruno has once again declared that the foreign fighters in Pakistan had to be killed or captured instead of being given amnesty through "so-called peace accords". The apprehensions expressed by Lt Gen Bruno that the Taliban and al-Qaeda can launch their "big offensive" from North Waziristan in the next nine months, simply belies repeated claims made by the Pakistani military authorities that the Waziristan area has returned to normalcy after the successful Army operation. As a matter of fact, Corps Commander Peshawar had declared in January 2005 that the back of the terrorists had been broken and that only a few of them were now alive "roaming around in small batches". He had also claimed that the final blow came in the shape of a payoff to the local warriors after an accord was signed with Baitullah Mahsud, the chieftain of the Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan. The statement by Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain came two years after the Pakistan Army started operations in South Waziristan in January 2003.

The military circles in Islamabad say Lt Gen Bruno should have been more discreet in his public pronouncements. First of all, these circles say, it conveys the impression that it is the US which is calling the shots and Islamabad is only carrying out Washington's bidding. Given the strong public sentiments against the US in Pakistan, especially in the areas bordering Afghanistan, a statement of the kind made by Lt Gen Bruno was bound to evoke a strong public reaction and embarrass the government. Furthermore, if a military action is planned - as it could well be after the pacification of South Waziristan when the theatre of violence has shifted to the North Waziristan - no military general worth his name would disclose vital strategic plans to the media. In such situations, they believe, secrecy is the essence.