Pakistani Govt. Reaches Yet Another Deal With Jihadists in Tribal Areas?
CBN News has been reporting since 2006 (see here and here) about the Pakistani government's disastrous "peace deals" with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other radical Islamist elements in the country's northwestern tribal regions.
Needless to say, these deals have had a hugely detrimental efffect on the War on Terror and allowed jihadists not only to set up safe havens, but to make further advances out of their tribal sanctuaries and into Pakistan's very heartland.
The results of the September 2006 deal in Waziristan have been particularly horrific.
Yet our friend Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal reports that the Pakistani government still hasn't learned its lesson:
Almost one and a half years after the Pakistani government signed the North Waziristan Accord with the Taliban and the agreement's subsequent collapse last summer, a new agreement has been inked. The political administration of North Waziristan has agreed to terms with the two major tribes. The Taliban were represented at the negotiations.
"The political administration of North Waziristan and all sub-tribes and clans of Wazir and Daur tribes have agreed to jointly struggle against extremism and terrorism throughout the agency," a press release from the Northwest Frontier Province's Governor's House stated. But the Daily Times reported the terms of the agreement were vague.
The Northwest Frontier Province's Governor's office released a "blurred four-and-a-half line press release" that "gave no details of the agreement," the Daily Times reported. There was no mention of the Taliban or al Qaeda sheltering in the region, no mention of training camps, and no mention of the obligations of the tribes to oppose the presence of the Taliban and al Qaeda or a punishment for doing so.
But they are most certainly there, as Roggio goes on to detail. Even better news for your weekend: the crushing losses by Musharraf's party in last weekend's Pakistani elections and his possible ouster make U.S. drone hits against Al-Qaeda in the tribal regions (like this one recently against the groups' No. 3 man) increasingly unlikely.
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