SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Pakistani Tribal Chiefs Threaten To Join Taliban
US warned of uprising if armed incursions continue. New counter-terrorism policy backfires on Washington.
Sep 15, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A controversial new US tactic
to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistan has met with
fresh hostility, it emerged yesterday, as Pakistani tribesmen
representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the
Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces
from Afghanistan.
Reacting to American missile attacks in north
Waziristan last week, which followed an unprecedented cross-border
ground assault earlier this month, tribal chiefs from the area called
an emergency meeting on Saturday.
"If America doesn't stop
attacks in tribal areas, we will prepare a lashkar [army] to attack US
forces in Afghanistan," tribal chief Malik Nasrullah announced in Miran
Shah, north Waziristan's largest city. "We will also seek support from
the tribal elders in Afghanistan to fight jointly against America."
The
development threatens to widen the conflict, with previously moderate
people from Pakistan's tribal border region with Afghanistan in danger
of joining Taliban militants based in the area. They have reacted
furiously to intensified American missile attacks on targets in the
tribal territory in recent weeks.
The issue is likely to feature
in talks between Gordon Brown and Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali
Zardari, this week. Zardari, who is on a private visit to Britain, is
due to meet Brown tomorrow. The prime minister is likely to press for
greater Pakistani action against militants in the tribal area and may
go along with US calls to integrate the tribal territory into the
conflict in Afghanistan as one theatre of war, an idea Pakistan will
fiercely resist.
Zardari and Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf
Raza Gilani, said in a joint statement at the weekend: "The sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the country should be respected at all
cost." During the past month, there have been seven US missile strikes
in the tribal area, about the same number as in the whole of last year.
A US ground assault in south Waziristan provoked a sharp rebuke from
the Pakistan army.
Washington believes that Taliban and al-Qaida
militants fighting the western coalition in Afghanistan are using
Pakistan's tribal area as a safe haven.
But Ayaz Wazir, a
retired Pakistani diplomat who is a tribal chief from south Waziristan,
warned: "If the Americans are coming to sort it out with force, they
would create more enemies. The Americans might have supersonic jets and
we might have to fight with stones in our hands, but we will stand up."
Up
to now, only a tiny minority of the tribesmen have joined the Pakistani
or Afghan Taliban movements, but incursions by the US could ignite the
area.
The heightened US activity comes just as some Pakistani
tribes have risen against the Taliban in the border areas of Dir and
Bajaur. But hatred of America would far surpass any dislike for Islamic
extremists.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A controversial new US tactic
to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistan has met with
fresh hostility, it emerged yesterday, as Pakistani tribesmen
representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the
Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces
from Afghanistan.
Reacting to American missile attacks in north
Waziristan last week, which followed an unprecedented cross-border
ground assault earlier this month, tribal chiefs from the area called
an emergency meeting on Saturday.
"If America doesn't stop
attacks in tribal areas, we will prepare a lashkar [army] to attack US
forces in Afghanistan," tribal chief Malik Nasrullah announced in Miran
Shah, north Waziristan's largest city. "We will also seek support from
the tribal elders in Afghanistan to fight jointly against America."
The
development threatens to widen the conflict, with previously moderate
people from Pakistan's tribal border region with Afghanistan in danger
of joining Taliban militants based in the area. They have reacted
furiously to intensified American missile attacks on targets in the
tribal territory in recent weeks.
The issue is likely to feature
in talks between Gordon Brown and Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali
Zardari, this week. Zardari, who is on a private visit to Britain, is
due to meet Brown tomorrow. The prime minister is likely to press for
greater Pakistani action against militants in the tribal area and may
go along with US calls to integrate the tribal territory into the
conflict in Afghanistan as one theatre of war, an idea Pakistan will
fiercely resist.
Zardari and Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf
Raza Gilani, said in a joint statement at the weekend: "The sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the country should be respected at all
cost." During the past month, there have been seven US missile strikes
in the tribal area, about the same number as in the whole of last year.
A US ground assault in south Waziristan provoked a sharp rebuke from
the Pakistan army.
Washington believes that Taliban and al-Qaida
militants fighting the western coalition in Afghanistan are using
Pakistan's tribal area as a safe haven.
But Ayaz Wazir, a
retired Pakistani diplomat who is a tribal chief from south Waziristan,
warned: "If the Americans are coming to sort it out with force, they
would create more enemies. The Americans might have supersonic jets and
we might have to fight with stones in our hands, but we will stand up."
Up
to now, only a tiny minority of the tribesmen have joined the Pakistani
or Afghan Taliban movements, but incursions by the US could ignite the
area.
The heightened US activity comes just as some Pakistani
tribes have risen against the Taliban in the border areas of Dir and
Bajaur. But hatred of America would far surpass any dislike for Islamic
extremists.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A controversial new US tactic
to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistan has met with
fresh hostility, it emerged yesterday, as Pakistani tribesmen
representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the
Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces
from Afghanistan.
Reacting to American missile attacks in north
Waziristan last week, which followed an unprecedented cross-border
ground assault earlier this month, tribal chiefs from the area called
an emergency meeting on Saturday.
"If America doesn't stop
attacks in tribal areas, we will prepare a lashkar [army] to attack US
forces in Afghanistan," tribal chief Malik Nasrullah announced in Miran
Shah, north Waziristan's largest city. "We will also seek support from
the tribal elders in Afghanistan to fight jointly against America."
The
development threatens to widen the conflict, with previously moderate
people from Pakistan's tribal border region with Afghanistan in danger
of joining Taliban militants based in the area. They have reacted
furiously to intensified American missile attacks on targets in the
tribal territory in recent weeks.
The issue is likely to feature
in talks between Gordon Brown and Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali
Zardari, this week. Zardari, who is on a private visit to Britain, is
due to meet Brown tomorrow. The prime minister is likely to press for
greater Pakistani action against militants in the tribal area and may
go along with US calls to integrate the tribal territory into the
conflict in Afghanistan as one theatre of war, an idea Pakistan will
fiercely resist.
Zardari and Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf
Raza Gilani, said in a joint statement at the weekend: "The sovereignty
and territorial integrity of the country should be respected at all
cost." During the past month, there have been seven US missile strikes
in the tribal area, about the same number as in the whole of last year.
A US ground assault in south Waziristan provoked a sharp rebuke from
the Pakistan army.
Washington believes that Taliban and al-Qaida
militants fighting the western coalition in Afghanistan are using
Pakistan's tribal area as a safe haven.
But Ayaz Wazir, a
retired Pakistani diplomat who is a tribal chief from south Waziristan,
warned: "If the Americans are coming to sort it out with force, they
would create more enemies. The Americans might have supersonic jets and
we might have to fight with stones in our hands, but we will stand up."
Up
to now, only a tiny minority of the tribesmen have joined the Pakistani
or Afghan Taliban movements, but incursions by the US could ignite the
area.
The heightened US activity comes just as some Pakistani
tribes have risen against the Taliban in the border areas of Dir and
Bajaur. But hatred of America would far surpass any dislike for Islamic
extremists.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy