Pakistan accelerates its downward slide to becoming an Islamic failed state -- with nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. All those who wanted President Musharraf to give up his authority as head of the armed forces and then to step aside as president should be second-guessing themselves about now. The weak government that succeeded him is showing it is incapable of fighting the radical Islamic uprising within the supposedly settled parts of Pakistan and has lost whatever influence it ever had in the tribal territories along the Afghan border. Musharraf tried a truce and the radical Islamic forces totally ignored what they had signed, using the withdrawal of Pakistani combat troops as an opportunity to strengthen their hold on the territory.
Now the government is sending a "hard-line" cleric to negotiate with the leader of the local Pakistani Taliban, who happens to be his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, who has been terrorizing the Swat Valley, forcing adherence to Islamic law.
In the last few months, Swat has largely fallen to militants who have beheaded opponents, burned scores of girls' schools and banned many forms of entertainment. Gunbattles between security forces and militants have killed hundreds, while up to a third of the valley's 1.5 million people have fled.
Fazlullah is the head of TNSN [the banned pro-Taliban Tehrik-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM - Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws) founded in the 1990s by, guess who? His father-in-law Sufi Muhammad who is on his way to negotiate a deal on behalf of the government! One can expect complete capitulation to the demands of the TNSM to install Sharia as the "law" of Swat Valley.
In an interview in July 2007 Fazlullah proundly announced he was Taliban and pledged his allegiance to Mullah Omar and his intention of forming a Omar-led caliphate straddling the Afghan/Pakistan border. (Asia Times, July 14,2007).
NATO commanders rightly express concern about this development, fearing what will result is a "safe haven" for Taliban fighters to rest and rearm in Pakistan before resuming their offensives in Afghanistan.
Muhammad and his convoy of 300 vehicles arrived in Swat's main city of Mingora on Tuesday as hundreds of jubilant residents lined the roads and shouted slogans. Many of those in the convoy with him wore black turbans -- a Taliban trademark."We will soon open dialogue with the Taliban. We will ask them to lay down their weapons. We are hopeful that they will not let us down," Muhammad told reporters. "We will stay here in the valley until peace is restored."
Who would believe Muhammad -- who clearly has brought reinforcements for his old organization in his 300 vehicle convoy -- about "peace" in the valley?
NATO forces are disintegrating in Afghanistan. German forces won't go near a battle zone; they're "rebuilding." Spain is pulling out. France refuses to increase its paltry number of soldiers. All this after President Obama's call to NATO allies to step up their commitment. The U.S. will have to increase its presence in Afghanistan and will have to act more aggressively in Pakistani territory if it is to end the violence in Afghanistan. There is great danger that the weak Pakistan government will fall and the military and the intelligence services (which was involved in the Mumbai massacres) will take over.
