Word: talibanize
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...Afghanistan and repair a broken bilateral relationship along the way, rumors persist about Iran's alleged efforts to sow trouble in the west. For several years, Afghan and U.S. officials have said Iranian-made weapons, including a signature variety roadside bomb used in Iraq, are being used by the Taliban-led insurgency that has intensified in the western provinces. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in mid-2007 that "given the quantities that we're seeing, it is difficult to believe that it's associated with smuggling or the drug business or that it's taking place without the knowledge...
...Pakistan Refugees Flee Taliban Area Citing government steps to oust its fighters from the southern region of the Swat Valley, the Taliban ended a three-month truce May 5, prompting thousands of civilians to flee, fearing a renewal of violence. As many as 800,000 of the valley's 1.6 million residents are expected to evacuate, according to Khalid Khan Umerzai, a local commissioner, in what he said might be "the biggest displacement of Pakistanis since independence" in 1947. While the government has set up at least six refugee camps, officials are worried they will lack funds to support...
Tanks Rumbling North from Islamabad toward the Swat Valley, refugees fleeing in the opposite direction: from the TV footage, at least, it appears that the Pakistani military is finally taking the fight to the Taliban. It was probably no coincidence that the assault began as Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Washington for a summit with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama. Zardari brought a long wish list: he wants aid, military hardware and training...
...What we need is a national change in consciousness," says Supreme Court advocate Aitzaz Ahsan, who led a lawyers' movement that brought about the downfall of Musharraf. "People need to be bombarded with the reality of what the Taliban represent." Ahsan wants to see videos of Taliban atrocities broadcast every night. Only then, he says, will people understand and act against extremism. "The whole nation needs to see what is happening. Not just the floggings by the Taliban but the beheadings, the digging up of the graves of our saints, the burning of our girls' schools...
...That sad reality is sinking in back home. In a phone call a few days after her party, Haye, the airline pilot, worried that she might have been too dismissive of the threat. "If the Taliban infiltrates Pakistan, of course that affects us. But what can we do?" One part of the answer, for 170 million Pakistanis, is to recognize their shared destiny. Only when the entire nation understands the threat to its existence - and acts accordingly - will its people be able to confront...