[Marxism] US pressure on Pakistan sink "peace" pact with Taliban in SWAT

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pakistani Accord Appears Stalled
Government, Extremists Make No Move To Formalize Their Pact on Islamic Law

By Pamela Constable, Karen DeYoung and Haq Nawaz Khan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 19, 2009; A09



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 18 -- A controversial, closely watched peace
agreement designed to end Taliban violence in the scenic Swat Valley hung in
limbo Wednesday amid criticism in Pakistan and rising concern in Washington.

Neither the Pakistani government nor the Islamist extremists were willing to
formalize the accord, announced by Pakistani officials Monday. The proposed
pact marks an unprecedented and risky attempt to disarm about 2,000 Taliban
fighters, who have invaded and terrorized a once-bucolic area of 1.5 million
people in northwestern Pakistan, by offering to install a strict system of
Islamic law in the surrounding district.

Supporters see the offer as an urgently needed bid for peace and a potential
model for other areas ravaged by Pakistan's growing Islamist militancy,
which controls areas 80 miles from the capital of this nuclear-armed Muslim
nation. Critics say it would make too many concessions to ruthless extremist
forces and provide them with a launching pad to drive deeper into the
settled areas of Pakistan from their safe haven in the rough tribal
districts along the border with Afghanistan.

"This is a bad idea that sends a very wrong signal," said Rifaat Hussain, a
professor of defense and security studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in
Islamabad, the capital. "It legitimizes the existence of violent armed
groups and allows them to draw the wrong lesson: that if you are powerful
enough to challenge the writ of the state, it will cave in and appease you."

In Washington, where the Obama administration has been conspicuously silent
about the agreement, officials said privately that they considered it a
major setback for U.S. goals in the region. "It's a surrender disguised as a
truce," one official said, describing it as an admission that the government
lacks the capacity to defend the crucial western part of the country.

Several officials said the proposed pact was evidence that the Pakistani
government has no coherent plan for combating militancy. One noted that
Pakistan had offered no comprehensive package of economic aid or outlined a
long-term structure for the region. "This is signing a deal and calling it
done," this official said. "What comes next?"

In December, Pakistani troops attempting to roust the Taliban from the Swat
Valley were defeated by the far smaller extremist force. The military "met
resistance that they and we didn't expect," a U.S. official said, citing
sophisticated Taliban tactics, command and communications and participation
by extremists from Chechnya and Afghanistan. The military, he said, "won
some tactical victories; they didn't win their strategic objectives."

Monday's proposed peace accord took the Obama administration by surprise,
U.S. officials said. They received no advance notice of the deal and
remained uncertain of what was happening on the ground. "We're not even sure
if it's a real deal," a senior U.S. military official said.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic
and military sensitivities, said they hoped for clarification by next week,
when senior Pakistani and Afghan delegations are due to arrive in Washington
for high-level talks that are part of the administration's strategic review
of the Afghan war effort and its policy toward Pakistan and the region.

The delegations will be headed by the foreign ministers of the two countries
and will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and special
envoy Richard C. Holbrooke, among others.

Holbrooke, who set up the visits during a tour of the region last week, said
Wednesday that the administration expected two things from the meetings.
"One, a sense of both countries that they are participating actively in
shaping our strategy toward their countries, that it's not just a unilateral
dictat. Secondly, " he said, "to stimulate them to do similar strategic
thinking."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government faces an identical challenge
from Taliban insurgents controlling large portions of the Afghan
countryside, plans to travel to Islamabad on Thursday for talks with
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and other officials.

In the Swat Valley, a second day of confusion and uncertainty about the pact
passed Wednesday, with rising hopes and a jubilant peace march among the
local population, followed by the brutal killing of a Pakistani TV
journalist, Musa Khan Khel. He was apparently seized and shot by fighters
while covering the peace march, despite a Taliban offer of a 10-day
cease-fire while elements of the accord are implemented.

Thousands of people turned out Wednesday morning in Swat to cheer and follow
a delegation of religious and political leaders who entered the
Taliban-controlled territory to persuade the extremists to sign the pact and
put down their weapons. The Taliban has ravaged the once-pristine, affluent
area for months, burning schools, killing police and ordering women to
remain home. More than half the populace is believed to have fled their
homes.

Leaders of Pakistan's secular Awami National Party, which orchestrated the
deal, insist that it will bring a better justice system to the region and
that they can reason with the Taliban because they are from the same ethnic
Pashtun tribe. But other prominent Pakistanis assert that civilian leaders
underestimate the danger posed by the insurgents.

"All segments of society and the general public need to be educated that
Talibanization is a real and serious threat to the country, and that if
nothing is done to stop its advance, then the anarchy will spread," Asad
Munir, a retired brigadier and former intelligence chief in North-West
Frontier Province, wrote in the News newspaper Tuesday. Pakistan's
intelligence service once helped create Islamist militias to fight other
wars.

In Swat, where followers of a nonviolent Islamist leader named Sufi Mohammad
have been demanding the enforcement of Islamic law for years, the
announcement of the agreement Monday was greeted by relief and hope. Shops
reopened and people flooded the streets after months of hurrying home in
fear. Preparations were made to welcome Mohammad, who had offered to come to
Swat and persuade the fighters to lay down their arms.

On Wednesday morning, Mohammad's "caravan of peace" made its way into the
valley, and thousands of well-wishers rallied in the central town of
Mingaora. Many people seemed nervous and uncertain, however, and
black-turbaned Taliban fighters were seen patrolling the outskirts of the
city with weapons and walkie-talkies.

"We want peace at any cost," Gul Bad Shah, 46, a shopkeeper in one town said
as the marchers passed. "We are very happy to see the hustle and bustle in
the markets after a long time." A college student named Rehmanullah, 22,
said the Taliban movement in Swat "will evaporate once the law is
implemented in letter and spirit."

All day, Mohammad and his delegation moved from town to town, chanting for
peace and hearing the cheers of supporters. Senior provincial officials and
legislators, who rarely dare to venture into Swat these days, accompanied
them. But a negotiating committee from the Taliban met in an undisclosed
location and made no public comment.

The government's position on the deal also remained unclear, creating
further anxiety. President Zardari, reportedly under pressure from the West,
went a second day without signing the pact or making public the details of
the law system. Several leaders in Swat told Geo television that they could
co-exist with the Taliban and blamed the government for sabotaging their
chance for peace.

But by late afternoon, news that Khan Khel had been slain while covering the
march seemed to mock public hopes that the extremists' word could be
trusted. Videos on the evening news showed him interviewing smiling people
along the route, interspersed with images of colleagues carrying his corpse.

"He was with us all day on the march, and then suddenly we heard he had been
kidnapped and killed and his body dumped on the road," said Irfan Ashraf, a
reporter for Dawn television, speaking from Swat. "He was a journalist to
the core, a sweet guy, and now he is no more here with us."

DeYoung reported from Washington. Khan reported from Mingaora. Special
correspondent Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this report.




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