Word: waziristan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Last Thursday night, a rocket fired by the Pakistani army arced across the sky of Waziristan and slammed into an adobe farmhouse, instantly killing five men, including tribal chieftain Nek Mohammed, its intended target. An ex-Taliban commander fond of flamboyant turbans, firearms and having his own way in the largely lawless region of Waziristan, Mohammed was wanted on both sides of the nearby border with Afghanistan?by U.S. forces and the Pakistani army?for aiding and giving refuge to fighters from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda...
...year-old commander's days were numbered after he reneged on a cease-fire in April with Pakistan's army. At the time, he agreed to disarm his own militia and to help the army track down wanted foreigners, including al-Qaeda members, who have made Waziristan their refuge since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan. He went back on both promises. Enraged, the army relaunched its offensive against Mohammed last week, deploying thousands of troops, helicopters and warplanes, and killing at least 69 suspected militants and destroying more than 20 houses and two mosques, according to an army spokesman. At least...
...After signing the truce, Mohammed had become a hero in South Waziristan. DVDs of him appeared in the bazaars, showing him presenting a rusty sword to Pakistani officers during the cease-fire ceremony, his only compliance with his promise to disarm. Mohammed rumbled around in a pickup truck mounted with a machine gun and appeared in public with a brace of Chechen and Arab bodyguards, on loan from al-Qaeda, say tribesmen. Two weeks ago, Mohammed took a second bride, a teenager...
...Trouble with Tribesmen "Tribal Tribulations" [May 17] described Pakistan's abandoning of its campaign to flush out Islamic militants hiding in Waziristan, near Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan. You stated that "Pakistan's decision to pull back is leaving others to question again Islamabad's commitment to the war on terror." Although I support the war against terrorists and al-Qaeda, Pakistan should do what's best for Pakistan. After all, the U.S. does what is good for the U.S. Why are we Pakistanis expected to destroy our country and kill our own people to please...
...tribal territory." It also stated that "the truce raises doubts about the resolve of the Pakistanis to root out al-Qaeda fugitives from the tribal areas." But violence only begets violence. In the Iraqi town of Fallujah, Americans were fighting the so-called liberated Iraqis, whereas in the Waziristan area of Pakistan, the Pakistan army is fighting its own citizens. It is better to resolve an issue through negotiation than through violence. The sooner the Americans learn this lesson, the better. AFTAB AHMAD KHAN Lahore...