Pakistan Frees Senior Taliban Leaders
From Bill Roggio’s The Long War Journal:
President Pervez Musharraf’s promise to hunt the Taliban as part of its suspension of the constitution and a virtual state of emergency rings hollow as the Taliban’s grip on the northwest Frontier Province tightens. Newsweek reported the Pakistani government has released several senior Taliban commanders captured inside Pakistani territory over the past year. The leaders were among 25 Taliban exchanged for over 200 Pakistani soldiers captured by South Waziristan commander Baitullah Mehsud in late August.
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Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
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If you recall, Musharraf invoked the treaty of Hudaibiya immediately after 9/11 when he indicated Pakistan had cast its lot with the USA against the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden: http://www.waronjihad.org/pakistan160805.html
November 11th, 2007 at 9:59 pmLonewolf they had created a lot of integrated ties for various reasons with the Taliban when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan..The main reson being is they needed the most stable group they could work with for control over commerce and etc through Afghanistan.
EXTERNAL MILITARY SUPPORT TO THE TALIBAN
HRW 2000
Pakistan
The principal supplier to the Taliban is Pakistan. The Taliban have been receiving weapons on a regular basis to replenish supplies consumed during battles with the United Front forces; these weapons must have crossed Pakistani territory. There is strong evidence that Pakistan has otherwise assisted the Taliban forces by facilitating the recruitment of fighters, offering military training, and planning pivotal military operations. Former Pakistani military officers provide specialized forms of assistance, particularly with respect to the maintenance and use of artillery, with a view to increasing the Taliban forces’ efficiency and effectiveness.
Recruitment of volunteer soldiers is organized by several Pakistani political parties who use madrasas as natural recruiting centers. This recruitment is performed openly, and some Pakistani government officials have repeatedly admitted knowledge of the paramilitary activities of the religious schools and have officially expressed discomfort regarding them. However, significant numbers of recruits, traveling in trucks and buses, regularly cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan in order to fight with the Taliban against United Front forces without any interference from Pakistani border officials. These recruits cross the border on the main roads, where Pakistani border controls are quite vigilant. Boys under the age of eighteen are among those recruited.
The former Afghan Army base of Rishikor, southwest of Kabul, was until recently the main training center for Pakistani volunteers brought to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. A guarded area within the camp held the living quarters for Pakistani military and intelligence personnel. A typical forty-day training cycle in the camp covered physical training, weapons maintenance, instruction in the use of weapons, including Kalashnikovs, RPK light machine guns, ZSU anti-aircraft cannon, 82mm and 120mm mortars, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as religious instruction.
Pakistani private companies, often run by retired military officers, carry out significant procurement of munitions and spare parts for the Taliban, buying considerable quantities from Chinese manufacturers through dealers in Hong Kong and also from dealers in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Arms purchased in this manner appear to move primarily by ship. Sealed containers are brought into the port of Karachi and then moved by truck to Afghanistan without inspection, as per the trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA).
November 11th, 2007 at 10:58 pmSure, Pak complicity and involvement with the Taliban isn’t new. All I’m pointing out is that Musharraf indicated that he wouldn’t be a reliable ally against Al Quaeda or the Jihadists as indicated by his speech back in September of 2001:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/pakistanpresident.htm
Mohammed’s agreement with the Quryash under the Treaty of Hudaibiya is notorious within Islam. It appeared to be to the advantage of their enemies but actually benefited the Muslims, then was broken at will when it suited them. Arafat consistently referred to this treaty as the model for his arrangements with Israel. The meaning of Musharraf’s reference to it would hardly go unnoticed by most Pakistani’s, but would almost certainly be lost on most Westerners.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:18 am