Pakistan Outsources Part of Terror War to Militia

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

September 13, 2009
Pakistan Outsources Part of Terror War to Militia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:38 p.m. ET

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- They wear their hair and beards long, Taliban style, and support attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Yet the fighters are tolerated and -- many believe -- backed by Pakistan because they share a common enemy: the country's most deadly terror network.

Pro-government militias like this one on the border of the country's lawless tribal regions are an important plank in the campaign against the Pakistani Taliban following the slaying of its chief, Baitullah Mehshud, in a CIA missile strike last month.

They know the enemy and the terrain, need no motivation and their willingness to fight means fewer army casualties. And with the Pakistani Taliban ranks said to be in disarray following the death of their leader, some of their fighters could be persuaded to change sides and join them.

But critics say Pakistan risks creating a monster by linking up with them and other militias. While tribal feuding ensures they are enemies of Baitullah's men for now, they are cut from the same militant cloth he was. Any alliance with the state could be temporary, and one day authorities could find themselves fighting their former proxies.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/13/world/AP-AS-Pakistan-Proxy-War.html?_r=1

[pauldp]

1. Hmm...Sunni Jihadi's who want to kill American troops, backed by Pakistan.

So is any of the 9 BILLION we sent to Pakistan last year to fight the war on Terra going to these jihadis - who with a stroke of a journalist's pen could easily be considered " Al Qaeda affiliates" ?

[Mithreal]

2. Think Rightwingers want a long simmering war with Pakistan?

Unrec because I don't trust anything from the AP especially when it enriches the military industrial or any other mega corporatist interests.