Mumbai Mayhem: Taliban Insurgency Worrisome

Globe and Mail Update, May 10, 2009 at 3:06 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Canada's Chief of Defence Staff says the confrontation between Pakistan and its Taliban insurgency is “worrisome” but Pakistani forces have both motivation and might – and a victory could help the government in neighbouring Afghanistan.

General Walter Natynczyk, who recently returned from Afghanistan which shares both a border and the Taliban problem with Pakistan, told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that defence officials inside Pakistan are beginning to understand the problems they are facing.

“The situation in Pakistan is very worrisome. It has been for a while. The Taliban are in the western frontier area, in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and in the Swat (Valley). And they have been operating from those areas into Afghanistan for some time,” said Gen. Natynczyk.
Taliban's insurgency in Pakistan 'worrisome,' says Canada's top soldier

Are fighters religious zealots, thugs or revolutionaries? The perceptions of the public, leaders and U.S. are at odds, but the overriding sentiment in Pakistan is that 'America created this problem.'
By Mark Magnier
May 10, 2009
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan -- Islamic militants who burn schools and threaten women in the name of religious purity. A righteous force battling corrupt and venal officials. Or gun-waving gangsters who conceal their crimes under a banner of spiritual renewal.

Weeks of turmoil have made it appear as though a unified Taliban is on the march out of the wild northwest, staking out strategic ground for an assault on Pakistan's heartland. But who exactly the Taliban is may rest in the eye of the beholder.

Many Pakistanis don't see the Taliban as much of a threat and are not eager for a confrontation. On the other hand, oversimplification may lead policymakers toward a one-size-fits-all solution that is ineffective -- or even counterproductive.
Confusion over Taliban muddies the issues in Pakistan