Word: pakistan
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Qari Zainuddin was asleep when his assassin struck, although the 26-year-old militant leader had been preparing for battle. Zainuddin was poised to join the Pakistan army's fight against the Taliban by leading his own militia to take down Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's most feared and murderous Taliban commander. Zainuddin had denounced Mehsud's brutality but he also had deep personal motives for joining the fight - Mehsud had killed his father and other relatives, Zainuddin said, obliging him to take revenge...
...dawn prayers, Zainuddin returned to sleep, and was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards who fled the scene in a waiting car. Zainuddin's men believe that the assassin had infiltrated the group and killed their leader on Mehsud's orders - an action widely interpreted in Pakistan to as a message to others to avoid following Zainuddin's path. (See pictures of life beneath the surface in Pakistan...
...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...
...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...