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The Pakistani Taliban
Death on the roof
Aug 13th 2009 | LAHORE
From The Economist print edition
A leader is killed, claim his enemies
THE tribal areas of Pakistan’s borderlands are wild, rugged and
impenetrable to most outsiders. So as claim and counter-claim circled this
week, it was hard to know for certain what had happened to the leadership
of the 13-member coalition of militant groups, the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) known as the Pakistani Taliban. It seems likely, however,
that a CIA drone attack in South Waziristan has killed its chief, Baitullah
Mehsud. According to American intelligence, he was having a “leg
massage” on the roof of his house with his second wife when the drone
struck. This would be a big victory for Pakistan’s campaign against
terrorists.
AFP
Mr Mehsud had cobbled the TTP together in 2007 out of the forces of
fractious tribal warlords, and harboured al-Qaeda fighters. His outfit had
killed over 3,000 security officers and captured large swathes of Pakistan’s
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Earlier this year American officials
even raised the fear that the TTP could sweep into the plains, besiege
Islamabad and grab Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Last month the Pakistani army at last threw helicopter-gunships, tanks and
jet fighters into the battle with Mr Mehsud and rolled his forces back. The
Americans, busy in Afghanistan, balked at the idea of opening another
front in Pakistan. But they too eventually went gunning for him.
The new face of the Pakistani
Taliban?
Amid a battle to succeed Mehsud as the TTP’s chieftain, some contenders, such as Hakimullah Mehsud
(pictured), hotly deny the leader is dead. Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s interior minister, insists he is but
admits there is no “solid evidence”. America says much the same.
Pakistan reports vicious Taliban in-fighting. A meeting of surviving Taliban commanders was said to have
ended in a brawl and gunfight. On August 12th, intelligence officials claimed at least 70 people had been
killed in a battle between feuding Taliban fighters. Pakistan’s army is of course delighted. With the TTP in
squabbling disarray, it can expect to cajole disgruntled Taliban contenders to switch sides. The
intransigent can be isolated. Others may be asked to join “peace talks”.
Certainly, reports of Mr Mehsud’s elimination comfort hundreds of thousands who fled the army’s
campaign against the Taliban in NWFP’s Swat Valley and are now trickling back to rebuild their homes. But
there may be a different sort of trouble ahead. The American drones and the Pakistani army are getting
too close for al-Qaeda and Taliban comfort. More and more people will be tempted to take money to
betray the leaders’ whereabouts. So al-Qaeda’s remnants, hiding in the tribal areas, may move into big
cities such as Karachi and Lahore. There they will be safe from the drones; and there is no competent
Pakistani intelligence system that can flush them out quickly and stop them from making more mischief.
Copyright © 2009 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
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