The fruit of Pakistan “diplomacy” with militants not so sweet

Three months ago, Pakistan struck peace deals” with tribal chieftains. (NOTE: Link to my own post to provide one stop shopping to multiple links…)

Considering that BHO’s centerpiece of foreign policy revolves around diplomatic relations and negotiations with despotic regimes (except when it comes to Pakistan, perhaps..) it certainly behooves American voters to see what fruit comes of that approach. And none could be a better example of dealing directly with the hotbed of Taliban and AQ fighters than watching Pakistan painfully thread it’s way thru that narrow path.

So three months later, how is it going? On the 17th of May, Pakistan not only released 55 Taliban militants as part of a prisoner exchange agreement with Baitullah Meshud, but also paid them the equivalent of $287K US dollars to boot.

PM Gilani continues to talk tough, insisting that the govt will preserve law in the tribal regions “at all cost” in the wake of violations of these agreements by militants “resorting to hanging the people publicly, kidnapping the minority people and setting ablaze girls schools.”
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UPDATE: Bill Roggio’s update today from Long War Journal documents the Pak Army’s “inconclusive military operations” against the sundry Taliban battles over the past year.

The offensives against the Taliban have been limited in size and scope. There is no coordinated campaign plan to address the wider problem of Taliban control in northwestern Pakistan. Counterinsurgency is not a consideration. Instead, the districts and tribal agencies are treated as discreet problems. Meanwhile the Taliban reinforce their neighbors and provide sanctuary during the fighting.

With the exception of the action against the Taliban in Swat, the operations have lasted for only several weeks. The fighting has never led to a conclusive outcome.

The military and the government initiate ceasefires and peace agreements just as the fighting intensifies. The Taliban have come out of the fighting in a better position to assert their power as the government and the military is viewed as weak and indecisive.

So far Gilani’s “at all cost” efforts appear pale, and unsubstantive.
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Meanwhile in Karachi, banned militant groups are reopening headquarters, distributing their messages in pamphlets, graffiti and CDs showing “capture and public execution of a Shia Pakistan Army officer by teenage boys in the tribal areas”, as well as battle clashes and supposed destruction by coalition and Pakistani forces.

The Taliban have also been busy setting up illegal Shariah courts in FATA and NWFP, telling locals to bring their complaints to these courts and bypassing govt courts for a more “quick justice”.

In accordance: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar also confirmed the establishment of Taliban courts in the tribal agencies. “The Taliban courts have started delivering quick and inexpensive justice to tribesmen at their doorsteps,” he said, adding that all decision taken by the Taliban courts were in accordance with the holy Quran and Shariah law.

Not challenging: The spokesman said that the establishment of Qazi courts was not meant to challenge the writ of the government, and was intended to deliver quick justice to the people.

snip

Taliban court Qazi Mufti Hamza said that people from Mohmand Agency, Charsadda and Peshawar had started submitting their cases with his court, which he said were decided within a week, in accordance with Shariah law.

He said that he had received 467 cases in the first month, of which 200 had already been resolved. He said the Taliban force was implementing the decisions, adding that if any party were denied access to court decisions, he would face action from about 25,000 Taliban.

Mehsud merely responds to all the rigamarow that he’ll suspend peace talks because “the government is constantly using force against us.”

The Pakistan/militant agreements constituted little more than a NIMBY demand… ala stop blowing up Pakistan territory and take your battles with the west elsewhere. And as time has shown, these deals have proven to be worth less than the paper on which they’re written.

There’s a lesson for BHO here, if he’s paying attention to anything but gathering money for his run to the Oval Office.  He can plainly see, with yet another example, that negotiating directly with those whom he considers the central front in the battle with jihadists yields little more than sour fruit.

Were but Pakistan’s failures with diplomacy confined only to Pakistan. Instead, how coindental that just weeks after the releases of Taliban prisoners are the reports of the resurgent gathering of force in Kandahar, and did they play a role in the Taliban prisoner escape June 27th?

The Kabul-based journalist said that last Friday’s jailbreak in Kandahar city in which about 400 Taliban prisoners escaped, was “very alarming and a sign that the situation is deteriorating”. The jailbreak came just before the Taliban took control of the villages in Arghandab district.

“They could not have done that without long-term planning, without local support in the prison itself,” Salaam said.

“It shows that the foreign forces and the Afghan government are losing control.”

The reporters also accused neighbouring Pakistan of not doing enough to stop the influx of the Taliban and other insurgents into the country.

“There is a fear among Afghans that the Pakistani government is not stopping the Taliban from crossing into Afghanistan [to carry out attacks],” Dashty told AKI.

On Sunday, Afghan president Hamid Karzai threatened to send troops over the border into Pakistan to confront the militants based there.

Pakistan for its part has warned Afghanistan from interfering in its internal affairs and says that there has to be a new approach to stopping attacks on both sides.

“Karzai’s speech was supported in Afghanistan, not because Afghans support Karzai but because the people have suffered from Pakistan’s policies for decades,” said Dashty.

“The Taliban have a retreating base on Pakistan soil and that is making it difficult to deal with them in Afghanistan,” echoed Salaam.

We are reminded that even in May 2008, Mehsud promised continued jihad against western forces in Afghanistan.

Baitullah vowed to continue the ‘jihad’ against the US and its allies in Afghanistan but said that his fighters constituted just a fraction of an ‘overwhelmingly Afghan Taliban force’. “Ninety-five per cent of them are Afghans”, he said.

When he was asked if the peace agreement would deter cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan, he said: “Islam does not recognise any man-made barriers or boundaries. Jihad in Afghanistan will continue.”

There is no doubt that Pakistan’s efforts of negotiations are not only absurdly ineffectual, but also increase the jihad mayhem in neighboring Afghanistan. Again proof that misplaced trust by “talk” does little more than fuel jihad abilities.