The attack by the Taliban on Pakistan's “Pentagon” in the garrison city of Rawalpindi had barely been quelled, when jihadi militants struck an army convoy on Monday in the Swat Valley, killing 40 and injuring dozens more.
Although it was the fourth terrorist attack in a week, it was the raid in Rawalpindi that has stunned governments around the world and left the people of Pakistan in a state of shock. How could the Taliban infiltrate Pakistan's most guarded military institution, take senior military officers hostage, then engage in a 22-hour battle that left 20 dead, including a brigadier-general and a lieutenant-colonel? The questions being asked are: Was this an inside job? Did the attackers have links to rogue elements of the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)?
The four terrorist attacks in Pakistan were preceded by an audacious attack by the Taliban on an isolated U.S. military base in Afghanistan in the town of Kamdesh. Reports say more than 300 Taliban fighters attacked the U.S. base under cover of fog. When the battle was over 24 hours later, eight Americans lay dead, dozens more were wounded and the Taliban attackers had vanished into the mountains with at least 25 Afghan policemen as hostages.
Lost in the details of this deadly firefight is the fact the U.S. base was located near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and that the large Taliban attack force is suspected of being made up of fighters who had been driven out of the Swat Valley by the Pakistani Army. Had the Pakistanis extended their fight beyond Swat, the Taliban would have been caught in a pincer, but for some odd reason, the offensive was eased. This allowed the Taliban to move across the border.
Read Full Article »