Change is Coming to Waziristan

[Grant]

Both sides have abrogated the truce between Pakistan and the Pashtun in Waziristan:

"DEBKAfile Exclusive: Pakistani forces backed by US special units are closing in
on al Qaeda’s No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri and possibly also Osama bin Laden

July 15, 2007, 10:47 PM (GMT+02:00)

Our counter-terror sources report exclusively that a frantic effort by al Qaeda
and Taliban to head off the pursuit set afoot the bloody battle in Islamabad’s
Red Mosque, the attempts to shoot down President Pervez Musharraf’s plane and
the suicide attacks on Pakistani military convoys, which cost 68 lives Saturday
and Sunday, July 14-15.
Until the middle of last week, Zuwahiri sheltered with the local Pashtun tribes
in Bannu, a town in the northwest Pakistan tribal federation of North
Waziristan. The approach of Pakistani and US intelligence and special forces caused him to switch hiding places and move to Tank or Tang, a town 120 km south
of Bannu.
On Saturday, two soldiers were injured by a bomb explosion in that town, having
just missed their quarry.
Musharraf meanwhile decided last week to storm the Red Mosque on a tip-off from
his own Inter-Service Intelligence that two of Zawahiri’s closest lieutenants,
Majid Hassan al-Tawil and Mohammad Othman, were inside.
They were reported to be preparing a mega-attack in Islamabad and other
important Pakistani towns to disrupt the combined Pakistani-US operation to
capture their master.
At that point, Pakistani intelligence turned up a lead to the whereabouts of
Osama bin Laden himself.
The Pakistani army imposed a blackout on the identities of the victims of the
Red Mosque battle, estimated at around 100 dead, and the detainees captured
there. Even the names of the women and children claimed to have been held
hostage were not disclosed. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Pakistan
intelligence, which had hoped to capture the two al Qaeda operatives alive, has not found them. They are still
trying to establish if they were among the dead or managed to escape.
An oblique reference to the operation came from the US president’s national
security adviser Stephen Hadley Sunday night, July 15, when he spoke on ABC
television about the US fully backing a Pakistani military crackdown on hotbeds
of al Qaeda and Taliban activity. ”It has not worked the way he wanted. It has
not worked the way we wanted it,” he said.
According to our sources, the intense pursuit continues despite the setbacks
which Hadley suggested.
The Pakistan military death toll climbed Sunday when pro-Taliban Islamists
killed at least 31 in two attacks in North Waziristan. Two suicide bombers and a
roadside device hit a 40-vehicle police-army convoy near the Afghan border
killing 14 soldiers. In another incident, 17 police officers and new recruits
died when a bomber detonated explosives at a police HQ in the town of Dera
Ismail Khan.
DEBKAfile’s sources disclose that the US Senate’s decision to double the bounty for bin Laden’s
capture, killing or information leading to his death or capture to $50 million,
was recommended by President George W. Bush after he received an urgent message
from Musharraf. The Pakistani president reported his people had picked up the
trail of bin Laden’s trail in their pursuit of his deputy, but the tribal chiefs
with knowledge of where the elusive al Qaeda leader was hiding were holding out
for an exorbitant sum for their collaboration.
He said that Pakistani intelligence had also laid out a large sum for the
information about Zawahiri’s two aides’ arrival in the Red Mosque.
His former sanctuary of Bannu is situated 150 km as the crow flies from the
South Afghan town of Gardiz which is a hub of al Qaeda-Taliban activity. The
connection between the two towns is a twisting road of 400 km through Parachinar
in Pashtun tribal land. According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, al
Qaeda and Taliban leaders do not travel from place to place by road or vehicle but on horseback by night piloted by local
guides."

[Berke]

how come all your articles are from DEBKAfile......... are you jewish Grant?

[Grant]

I am not Jewish Berke and I have posted my true background here frequently enough that I am not going to repeat myself. You may wish to go to my profile and read some of my early posts. You may also find if you do so that all of my posts are not from Debka......

My experience has been that Debkafile is days to weeks ahead of most other news services. I have yet to see even a suggestion of the information and interpretation here anywhere else. I find it interesting and rational as an explanation of something that seemed otherwise inexplicable.

Does it not make sense to you?

[Berke]

Sort of. I am not really that much into politics. So can someone explain to me why Pakistan, a nuclear state, is catering to the needs of the United States like the arab countries. Does it have anything to do with Musharaf being a dictator who is not well liked in his country?