Word: wazir
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...thousand years, the Wazir tribesmen who rule part of Pakistan's rugged western border with Afghanistan defeated invading armies by drawing them into a labyrinth of mountains to pick off enemy troops one by one. Their weapons have evolved from arrows to rocket-propelled grenades, but their deadly tactics have not. The Wazir humbled the Mughals in the 16th century and the British in the 19th and 20th centuries. Last month, it was the Pakistani army's turn. In an April 17 ceremony, Pakistani Lieut. General Safdar Hussain signed a truce with the leaders of the tribal forces, ending...
...forces. Some optimists even thought Osama bin Laden might be plotting his next attacks from Waziristan and could be snared there. But after several weeks of ambushes and the shelling of villages, the campaign was abandoned as the army death toll mounted in the face of fierce resistance from Wazir defending their homes. At least 63 Pakistani soldiers were killed (although unofficial accounts put military casualties at more than 200 dead); 11 suspected militants and 26 tribesmen were also killed. Now, with little to show for the campaign, the U.S. is being forced to rethink its Afghanistan strategy?and Pakistan...
...From a military standpoint, the spring offensive was straightforward. Pakistani troops swept into Wazir villages while American soldiers in Afghanistan braced near the border to smash al-Qaeda fighters flushed out by the Pakistani advance?"a hammer and anvil" approach, as one U.S. general confidently called it, that never developed. Judging from the daily communiqu?s by U.S. military spokesmen in Kabul, the enemy was as elusive as ever, emerging only to ambush American patrols. One such attack led to the death of 27-year-old U.S. professional football player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman...
...Pakistani forces suffered constant harassment. According to one Islamabad-based Western diplomat, "the Pakistanis would come along the road with 200 trucks lined up, and within minutes, every al-Qaeda and Taliban knew they were here." Other tribes joined the Wazir in raids against government troops, raising fears that a prolonged campaign could escalate into a full-blown tribal uprising all along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. There was never a sign of bin Laden, nor was there a sighting of his No. 2, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, rumored, wrongly as it turned out, to be in Waziristan...
...Pakistani military may not have anticipated the disciplined response that came from rebels led by Mohammed. A 27-year-old Wazir tribesman with wolfish looks and black curls tumbling out of his turban, Mohammed was al-Qaeda's point man in the tribal area prior to the recent truce. After the Taliban's fall in December 2001, he helped fleeing al-Qaeda fighters and their families find sanctuary inside Pakistan, according to several of his fellow tribesmen. Mohammed observes an ancient, pre-Islamic code that exalts honor, revenge and giving sanctuary?even if it's your worst enemy...