The Pakistani army has been mauled and the Musharraf government is risking civil war in its failed attempt to capture Ayman al-Zawahiri in the Pashtun tribal region, reports today’s Asia Times.
American and Pakistani officials boasted last week that they had trapped a “high value target”, understood to be al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s close aide, in the Pashtun province of South Waziristan. But the Times’ Pepe Escobar says bin Laden and al-Zawahiri crossed the border into Afghanistan two months ago “when word was rife all over the tribal areas about the upcoming spring offensive.” Meanwhile, the Pakistani army, composed mainly of Punjabi conscripts, is seen as an occupying army by the Pashtuns, and has behaved as such, shelling villages and inflicting civilian casualties, and taking serious losses in return, while the country’s powerful Islamist parties are mobilizing in defence of the tribal revolt. An accompanying report by Syed Saleem Shahzad describes the growing dissent in the army ranks, and the rumoured involvement of Indian and Afghan intelligence services seeking to exploit Musharraf’s difficulties. Articles available on www.supportingfacts.com. Sorry for any cross posting.
