Word: waziristan
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...contributed to Pakistan's slide into chaos over recent years more than Baitullah Mehsud. From his base in the wilds of South Waziristan, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban has overseen the killing of more than 1,200 civilians and several hundred soldiers through brutal means, including suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. He has been accused of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late December 2007. In late March, Washington announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, describing Mehsud as a "key al-Qaeda facilitator." And over the past week alone...
...Military analysts say that the fighting in South Waziristan will not be easy and that the government must be prepared to handle the potential fallout. The harsh, rugged terrain has found much favor with hardened guerrillas. "It will be more difficult [than the Swat-valley operation]," says Hasan Askari-Rizvi, a military analyst. "The Taliban are more deeply entrenched, and they are going to put up a fight. They will avoid head-on battles but will try to harass the army by other means, including ambushes." There is also the possibility that Mehsud's ranks have been fortified by some...
...advantage during this fight may come, however, from abroad. In contrast to the previous offensives in South Waziristan, there are signs of closer cooperation between Islamabad and Washington. Just hours before Ghani's Sunday announcement, a CIA-operated drone fired missiles near Makeen, Mehsud's hometown. Five suspected militants were killed. It was the 20th such strike this year. Since February, the U.S. has stepped up attacks on Mehsud and his allies, broadening its range of drone targets across the tribal belt. The day before the drone strike, Pakistani air-force jets were pounding the same area in retaliation...
...screens in Nevada can detect "patterns of life analyses," or timelines of movements and meetings in any given area. But the drones' utility is dramatically enhanced when analysts know exactly what they're looking for and where. For that, there's nothing better than human intelligence. Reports from Waziristan suggest the CIA has access to a network of spies. Tribesmen have told TIME of agents who drop microchips (locally known as patrai) near targets; the drones can lock onto these to guide their missiles or bombs with pinpoint precision. But it has proved difficult to verify these claims of human...
...over the tribesmen, as it did with Iraqi insurgents, "we can't afford to be seen as people who fight from afar, who don't even dare to put a pilot in our planes." The drones seem to be uniting militant groups against the U.S. and the Zardari government. Waziristan warlord Maulvi Nazir signed a nonaggression pact with the Pakistani military in 2007 and sent his fighters to battle Mehsud. But because he continued to mount attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, he became the target of drone strikes. Enraged, he recently buried the hatchet with Mehsud and joined forces...