by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 22, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

      Pakistan’s current government, headed by Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has sold out to the Taliban, ceding the Swat Valley only 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad.  Zardari, and his predecessor Bush ally Gen. Pervez Musharraf, have both walked the razor’s edge, paying lip service to the U.S., while, at the same time, placating Islamic extremists.  Zardari and Musharraf gave al-Qaida and the Taliban free reign in the rugged ungoverned Waziristan border region shared with Afghanistan.  Zardari and his Foreign Minister Hussain Haggani, asked President Barack Obama April 8 for $30 billion in foreign aid, to protect the country from Islamic extremists.  While Zardari talks a good game, he’s playing both sides against the middle.  No one knows for sure whether U.S. cash already falls into the hands to the Taliban and al-Qaida.

            Ceding territory to the Taliban inside Pakistan opens the door for coup d’etat, while radical elements gain a foothold inside the Islamic country.  While Zardari reassures Western leaders that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is safe, he signed a peace deal with the same terror group that protected Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11.  U.S. officials expressed concern that the Swat Valley could become home base for the Taliban, currently holed up in the rugged Waziristan region.  “The activities in the Swat do concern us.  We’re keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military,” Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker told Pentagon reporters via a video hookup, totally ignoring Zardari’s decision to cede the Swat region.  Pakistani officials are kidding themselves giving territory to the Taliban, praying militant groups will be placated and back off.

            President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton shouldn’t be duped by Zardari’s tactic.  His government—like Karai’s in Afghanistan—hangs by a thread, with the same militants that killed Bhutto working round-the-clock to topple his government.  Handing over 10,000 square miles in the Malakand Division, incorporating the tribal lands along the Afghan border, give the Taliban and al-Qaida a safe haven, untouched by government hands.  Recent U.S.-sponsored predator-drone attacks reflect Zardari’s ambivalence about placating the U.S. while making concessions to radical groups.  Taliban militants have already expanded their territory to the Buner district south of the Swat Valley.  Battles have waged between local inhabitants and heavily armed Taliban and al-Qaida’s militias, intimidating residents into accepting the inevitability of Taliban rule.

            In a bad sign for the Zardari government, local inhabitants seek the strict Sharia law practiced by the Taliban, no longer trusting the national government.  Taliban thugs have already instructed barbers to stop shaving beards, imposing strict Islamic law on local inhabitants.  Taliban militants have set up bases in the village of Sultanwas, hiding out in neighboring hills.  “If the Taliban continue to expand in different directions and establish fiefdoms as they did in Swat, then probably the deal is not going to work and the government will be forced to scuttle that deal and go back to operations,” said Lahore University of Management Sciences professor Rasul Bakhsh Rais.  What the professor doesn’t get is that the government has no military to challenge the Taliban in the region.  Ceding territory to the Taliban gives the radical group added incentive to work toward toppling the national government.

            Poor national control of regions outside Islamabad creates ideal conditions for the Taliban to continue seizing Pakistani territory.  What ground they lost in Afghanistan, the Taliban has more than made up for in Pakistan.  Obama can no longer consider fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban only in Afghanistan.  Pakistan’s current government caters to Islamic radicals in hopes of buying more time.  Handing over more cash to the Zardari government would likely fall into the enemy’s hands.  “This is our country, we will have to look at our own priorities and our own interests,’ said Buner chief executive Haider Khan Hoti, unwilling to fight with Taliban militants.  “We should not enter any friendship at the cost of our own destruction,” recognizing that acquiescing to the Taliban would result in the region’s eventual collapse.  Taliban militants are already too entrenched to be evicted by local authorities.

            Taliban militants led by the exiled one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammed Omar won’t stop until they rule the combined entity of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Swat Taliban chief Maulan Fazulah already ordered his militants to patrol Mingora, the Swat valley’s main city.  Taliban extremists are determined to see Pakistan under strict Sharia law, the same regime imposed in Afghanistan before the U.S. evicted them Nov. 12, 2001.  Local authorities in the Swat region have more faith in the Taliban than the Zardari government.  “Local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks,” said Swat valley spokesman Istiqbal Khan.  Islamabad Management Sciences University Prof. Rais sees a natural chemistry between locals and the Taliban.  “It is about the identity of Pakistan and the future direction Pakistan can take,” a scary thought with Zardari capitulating.

About the Author

John M. Curtis is editor of OnlineColumnist.com and columnist for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He’s director of a Los Angeles think tank specializing in political consulting and strategic public relations. He’s the author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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