Pakistan’s soldiers ‘huddling in their bases’ in tribal regions


The Pakistani army is paralysed by the growing Taliban threat and some retired officers are covertly aiding the militants.


The Pakistani army is paralysed by the growing Taliban threat and some retired officers are covertly aiding the militants, according to a former CIA officer.

Soldiers posted to Waziristan, a tribal area that hosts an estimated 2,000 al-Qaida fighters, are “huddling in their bases, doing nothing”, said Art Keller, a CIA case officer who was posted to Pakistan last year.

“Their approach was to pretend that nothing was wrong because any other approach would reveal that they were unwilling and unable to do anything about Talibanisation,” said Mr Keller, who has visited Waziristan.

Mr Keller said that behind the scenes the fight was riven by divisions among the officers. “There are the moderates who fear Talibanisation, the professional jihadis who want to embrace the Taliban again, and the middle group who aren’t too fond of the Taliban but resent doing anything under pressure from the US out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness,” he said. “Because of [that], the Pakistani military remains paralysed.”

Does this mean that our heroic chickenhawk administration may be misleading us about the Coalition of the Willing?

Posted: Sat - June 16, 2007 at 11:31 AM