Word: mehsud
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...assassination of a powerful local warlord willing to fight Mehsud is a blow to the strategy of the Pakistan security forces of turning local militia against the Taliban. It also casts fresh doubts over Pakistan's enduring habit of aligning itself with lesser-evil militants in order to tackle larger, more immediate threats. Recent history has shown not only that the policy has yielded poor results and sometimes backfired disastrously, but it's also at cross purposes with U.S. efforts in Afghanistan...
...loathing of Mehsud, Zainuddin was scarcely the model of a local hero rising up against a tyrant. In recent interviews, he pledged fealty to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, declared his fondness for al-Qaeda, and waged 'jihad' against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. A key element of his quarrel with Mehsud was a difference in militant priorities: While Mehsud and his allies in the Swat Valley were principally fighting against the Pakistani military and attacking Pakistani territory, Zainuddin believed that it was wrong to attack fellow Muslims and wanted to focus their fire on Western...
...Still, Zainuddin was clearly of some use to the Pakistani military. The militant leader hailed from Mehsud's tribe and came from the same area. The army has insisted, with good reason, that it needs local support to be able to take on the likes of Mehsud. Zainuddin, if his claims to command thousands of fighters were to be believed (and many analysts believe they were inflated), could have helped the army destabilize Mehsud by forcing him to fight on two fronts. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...
...similar arrangement in 2007 with two different and more powerful militant leaders proved disastrous. When Maulvi Nazir of the rival Ahmedzai Wazir tribe in South Waziristan took on Mehsud and Uzbek groups aligned to al-Qaeda, the Pakistan army backed him. After his men killed 250 Uzbek fighters, the army entered a nonaggression pact with Nazir and his associate Hafiz Gul Bahadur. But Nazir continued to attack U.S. forces across the border, and was targeted in air strikes. Enraged, Nazir and Bahadur shed their differences and formed a new alliance with Mehsud earlier this year. Now, all three groups could...
...Given the profusion of militant groups that operate in South Waziristan and the tribal areas, the Pakistan wants to avoid having them all arrayed against it at once, which would drain resources to fight on multiple fronts. Already, there are grave doubts about launching an operation against Baitullah Mehsud when gains made in Swat and neighboring districts have not been consolidated...