Give the Taliban An Inch, They Take the Mile

4/28/2009

Posted by Patti under Afghanistan

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Earlier this month, the Pakistani government inked a deal with the Taliban allowing them to impose their extreme form of Islam in the Swat valley. The Swat area is in the largely lawless Northwest regions along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. The Taliban being who they are barely allowed the ink to dry before moving their forces into the neighbouring Buner district.

They have since pulled some of their forces out but reportedly still have about 450 militants still in the area. That’s definitely enough to be terrorising the population. Control of Buner would place the Taliban within about 60km of Islamabad, the seat of government in Pakistan.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that the Taliban’s ultimate aim is to take over the Pakistan government. They have been denied the ability to do so in Afghanistan, so they look to the roots of their origins, a turning on their maker. The Pakistani intelligence forces are originally responsible for facilitating the Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan.

As often happens when governments engage in allowing ‘lessor evils’ to come to power, they eventually turn on their maker. The Americans have some experience with this happening, think Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. With Pakistan having nuclear weapons, the world cannot afford to sit back and allow the Taliban to take control in that country.

Pakistan needs to throw their resources into bringing the Northwest regions under government control and deny the Taliban their safe space for regrouping and training of more militants. This isn’t the first time they have tried peace talks with the Taliban, they need to learn their lesson and resolve to not be sucked in again.

Taming the Northwest regions would facilitate the international forces success across the border in Afghanistan. Like Afghanistan, Pakistan receives billions in foreign aid every year, they need to be either onside with stabilizing the region or part of the problem.