Nederland en Afghanistan 66

De Guardian bericht: 'New Frontline in the War on Terror. Experts fear Pakistan is losing fight against an Islamist militant revolt in its tribal belt. As hideouts go, the Shawal Valley in northern Pakistan is a militant's dream. Lonely goat trails wind through a rocky 25-mile corridor that nudges the Afghan border. Its fiercely conservative tribesmen and forbidding high-walled compounds have sheltered Taliban fighters and probably al-Qaida fugitives. Last weekend Brigadier Imtiaz Wyne, a Pakistani army commander, stood on the top of one of its highest peaks and declared his 5,000 troops had tamed the wild valley - almost. "This border is sealed," he said, pointing to a line of observation posts along the border. But the cornered militants were fighting back, he admitted. His soldiers had suffered five major attacks in the previous month; on one occasion a captured soldier was gruesomely mutilated before being executed. "They are a mix - foreigners, locals, Afghan Taliban, criminals," said the officer. "It's difficult to say who is the leader, but ultimately it is al-Qaida." A vicious mini-war has erupted between the Pakistani army and the "Pakistani Taliban" in North Waziristan, a turbulent tribal area that has moved to the front line of the Pakistani and US "war on terror". Every day sees fresh violence between the army and militants - a loose coalition of radical clerics, tribal leaders and al-Qaida fighters.
The biggest upset occurred in early March, when 1,500 self-styled Taliban assaulted a military base in the main town, Miran Shah. The ensuing four-day battle involved artillery and helicopters gunships and left 145 militants dead, 25 of them foreigners, according to the army figures. The fight is also ideological. Taliban clerics have imposed strict social edicts, such as a ban on music or films, and started to dispense summary justice. Last week Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, told the Guardian he was concerned "Talibanisation" was spilling into the settled areas. "There is an extremist mindset - attacks on barbers, no television or songs," he said. A Pakistani intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the revolt was led by eight tribal and cleric leaders. Some have direct links to the Afghan Taliban. "We have apprehended people on their way to attack US positions in Afghanistan," he said.
Army generals, who have deployed 45,000 regular and paramilitary troops to quell the revolt, insist they have the upper hand. "I am hurt when anyone says there is no writ of government, because my forces are everywhere," area commander Maj Gen Akram Sahi said. His forces had killed 324 "miscreants", arrested 142 and blown up a madrasa (religious school) used to train jihadi fighters, he said. The death toll may include some civilian deaths, western diplomats believe. Gen Sahi, who admitted that radical Islamic forces were supplanting traditional tribal rule in Waziristan, sought to discredit the revolt's leaders. After searching a house used by cleric Abdul Khaliq his troops found "the most dirty films", he said. "How can they talk of being Taliban?"' Lees verder: http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1767031,00.html?gusrc=rss Of:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050406C.shtml