Page 2 of
2 Pakistan's radical Red Mosque
returns By Farhana Ali and
Mohammad Shehzad
attacks against US
interests. On the website of an extremist group,
Jamaat-ud-Da'wa, 200 women are committed to
striking US targets: "If the US tried to attack
Iran or Pakistan like Afghanistan or Iraq, then we
will kill the Americans through suicide attacks.
We will tie bombs with our body and stop the
Americans from entering Iran and Pakistan."
One report suggests that suicide bombers
recruited to perpetrate
attacks against Pakistan's
symbols of power are rooted in "the cause of Islam
and targeting those who are damaging their
religion". Through indoctrination by a senior
cleric, young single males are promised paradise.
In Voice of Islam in June, an interview with a new
Taliban recruit indicates his willingness to
commit a suicide operation because he is
"interested in women of that world [paradise]".
A September 9 report by the United
Nations, entitled "Suicide attacks in
Afghanistan", explores the suicide phenomenon in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, noting that the "tribal
areas [of Pakistan] are an important source of
human and material assistance for suicide attacks
in Afghanistan" and suggests that most suicide
attackers are poor, under-educated or uneducated,
recruited from madrassas (seminaries), and
male.
Therefore, the steady rate of
suicide bombings, motivated by al-Qaeda's
resurgence in the tribal belt, reinforces
Musharraf's claim to the world community that he
alone is capable of battling a formidable foe.
Chairman of the Department of International
Relations at Karachi University, Dr Moonis Ahmar,
told the author in August, "Musharraf sends the
message that without me, there is no future."
In public statements, the general has
acknowledged, however, that the fight against
terrorism and extremism needs the support of the
entire nation. On the other hand, there is growing
speculation that his counter-terrorism strategies
used against al-Qaeda can be used to counter the
"Pakistani" Taliban's ascendancy in the tribal
belt. According to the Afghan interior minister
and other experts, Pakistan's war is directed
against foreign militants, with little effort
expanded to contain the Taliban [3].
One
of the key challenges to Pakistan is that a
resurgent Taliban allied with al-Qaeda - which can
maneuver, regroup and rearm - destabilizes
Pakistan's internal security, its relationship
with its Afghan counterpart and further nurtures
the perception among the international community
that Pakistan is a refuge for terrorists.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid's recent
statement, "Taliban bases and sanctuaries in
Pakistan are at the heart of the problem," points
specifically to Quetta as the Taliban base and
safe haven. The exploitation of the porous border
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which Ahmed
considers the "world's [new] terrorism central",
inhabited by Pashtun tribes, has refocused
attention in Washington and Islamabad [4].
The penetration of the tribal belt by
al-Qaeda - once an ally of Pakistan's
intelligentsia - and the Taliban is publicly
acknowledged by the Pakistani military. According
to Pakistan's military spokesman, Major General
Shaukat Sulat, "We don't deny the Taliban come and
go, but that is not the entire truth."
Whatever the truth may be, greater US
engagement in Afghanistan creates risks for
Pakistan. After the US assumed control of North
Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in
Afghanistan, the Taliban said 2007 would be "the
bloodiest year for foreign troops" and have
indicated a ready supply of at least 2,000 suicide
bombers for their offensive against the United
States.
With the Taliban-al-Qaeda merger
in the tribal belt, Pakistan's general will need
to rethink his current strategy in the "war
against terror". In recent weeks, the army's
heavy-handedness against militants has resulted in
civilian deaths in the northern areas and
contributed to Musharraf's growing unpopularity.
Liked or not, while in charge of a country
that is seen as the citadel of Islam and the only
Muslim nuclear power, he will continue to be a
strategic ally in the US-led "war on terror".
Pakistan will continue to garner international
attention so long as al-Qaeda, the Taliban and
homegrown extremists threaten the state's grip on
power and as long as Pakistan is viewed by Western
countries as fueling the fire of violent jihad.
Notes 1. On September 20,
2007, a jihadi website posted a message entitled,
"Remove the apostate, al-Sahab production presents
'A call for jihad' by Sheikh Osama bin Laden,"
with links to a 23-minute, 36-second message from
bin Laden. 2. From http://www.muslm.net/vb, a
popular spot for statements and discussions by
jihadi group members in Iraq and elsewhere in the
Muslim world. The video referenced is dated
August-September 2007 and includes statements from
Zawahiri about the Red Mosque affair. 3.
Various reports make this point. See A Jalali
(2006), The Future of Afghanistan, Parameters,
36(1), Spring 2006, p 8; BBC News, August 2007;
Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU), September
22, 2007. 4. Based on author's discussions with
a senior US government official, who spent weeks
along the Afghan-Pakistan border, who noted that a
solution to the problem requires more than
military might. He strongly advocated the need to
understand the cultural and human terrain; that
is, to better understand the tribal belt, the US
government would need to spend time with the
Pashtun tribes to learn about their deeply rooted
cultural history and beliefs as well as become
familiar with the people currently supporting the
insurgents
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