Predators continue to prowl North Waziristan skies

March 20, 2011 12:11 PM ET
By Bill Roggio

Despite the public protests by top Pakistani political leaders and General Kayani over last Thursday's US Predator strike that killed more than 30 (or 40 depending on which report you reference) people in North Waziristan, and vague threats to shoot the aircraft down, the unmanned hunter-killers continue to fly over the tribal agency. Dawn reports:

Five to eight drones were seen flying at high altitude over different areas of the region where an unmanned aircraft attacked a tribal jirga on Thursday, killing 45 civilians.

Islamabad lodged a protest with Washington on Friday and announced withdrawal from the coming trilateral ministerial meeting on the Afghan issue.

People in Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, said that drones, locally known as "Bungara", hovered over the agency throughout the day.

"This is now a routine matter. People here can spot Bungara in the sky very easily," said a resident of Miramshah.

And now, the Pakistan Air Force has denied that its forces have gone on high alert to repel the Predators and Reapers:

Some foreign news outlets reported on Saturday that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had been put on high alert after Thursday's deadly drone attack. However, a PAF spokesman, Air Commodore Tariq Qamar Yazdanie, denied such reports.

Meanwhile, Hafiz Gul Bahadar has threatened to end the peace deal with the Pakistani government. Again, Dawn reports:

"The peace agreement was made for the establishment of peace in the region but the people of North Waziristan are continuously being targeted with drone attacks and now the jirga's are not even safe," said Gul Bahadur's spokesperson.

Gul Bahadur warned that if drone attacks and the series of civilians deaths did not stop he would consider ending the three-year long peace deal.

Keep in mind that Bahadar has violated the peace agreement from day one by allowing the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (Hakeemullah Mehsud's pan-Taliban movement, of which Bahadar is not a part), al Qaeda, and allied domestic and foreign terror groups to shelter in North Waziristan.

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Shabaab recruits 'underage children to fight for us

By BILL ROGGIOMarch 20, 2011 8:01 PM

It isn't every day that you get a terrorist leader to freely admit what an awful human he really is. Late last week, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Shabaab commander and Specially Designated Global Terrorist with links to al Qaeda, proudly told how his organization recruits children to wage jihad. From Garowe:

"We recruit underage children to fight for us, the children are ready to die for their country and religion" said Sheikh Aweys while addressing people in a mosque at Elasha Biyaha camps in outskirt of Mogadishu, the restive capital of Somalia. He adds they will continue recruiting underage children to fight against Somali government forces and African Union troops. "There was an incident where 13 year fighter shocked when he heard the loud sounds of the artillery while he was fighting and he said the fighting is terrible but the Jihad is sweet and later he was dead in the clashes," said Aweys.

Keep in mind that some people think it would have been a good idea to have kept the Islamic Courts Union, which Aweys co-led, in power: the premise being that the ouster of the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 resulted in the rise of Shabaab. (I've addressed this false argument back in December 2008 and again in December 2009).

Also note that despite the ongoing African Union and Somali government offensive, top Shabaab leaders like Aweys are still able to hold press conferences and address worshipers at mosques in and around the capital.

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Pakistan ready for peace with the Taliban?

This report from The Express Tribune on the Pakistani government opening negotiations with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is the first I've seen in the press. I've heard rumors of this from US military and non-military intelligence officials, and it does seem to fit with other related news reports.

Pakistan has started peace talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant groups across the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), in anticipation of early withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan, informed sources told The Express Tribune.

The move is a critical step in transition to full Afghan control by the end of 2014, announced by US President Obama at a Nato summit in Lisbon last year.

The initial talks were opened up with the TTP, and its affiliated militants, prior to the recent wave of terrorist attacks across Pakistan, sources said.

"Both sides, at the moment, are putting up their respective demands and their terms and conditions to bring an end to militancy in Fata and other regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa," sources added.

The authorities, however, have made it clear to the TTP and others that no role of al Qaeda is to be accepted at any level in these negotiations, sources said, adding that "some tribal elders from Pakistani territory are mediating between security high-ups and leaders of the TTP and other militant outfits."

The report goes on to note that the Pakistani government has stopped supporting the anti-Taliban tribal lashkars (militias), and this fits with what we've seen from the Matani lashkar, which was recently hit with a devastating suicide attack.

Also, note the government's reaction to the March 17 Predator strike in Datta Khel in North Waziristan. The condemnation of the strike and the refusal to recognize that Taliban fighters and a commander were killed may have been designed to lash out at the US and soothe the Pakistani street, but the government's reaction may also be a signal to the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan that it is prepared to reconcile.

The Pakistani military and government have a long history of cutting peace deals with the Taliban. Several are in effect right now, most notably the deals with Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan and Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan. Prior deals, such as the one with Mullah Fazlullah and Sufi Mohammed in Swat, led to the Taliban advancing to within 60 miles of Islamabad. Each "peace deal" included a promise by the local Taliban and tribes to not shelter foreign terror groups. Each time the tribes and the Taliban blatantly ignored the provision.

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