Do you think Islamabad may have wanted a face lift for diplomatic purposes on their efforts to fight terrorism? The timing of this attack — and its public-relations promotion — suggests that the Gilani government in Pakistan feels some heat after Mumbai:
At least 30 Taliban militants were killed Wednesday during military air strikes in a restive Pakistani tribal district bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.
The strikes were carried out by Pakistani jets and helicopter gunships at militant hide outs in Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the military is hunting Al-Qaeda linked Taliban militants.
“According to reports received here at least 30 militants were killed in the air strikes,” a security official told AFP.
“Two militant centres, a militant training camp and an ammunition dump were also destroyed in the air strikes,” he added.
Don’t get me wrong. This is exactly what the Pakistanis need to do with all of the terrorist groups operating within their territory. We’d fire a lot fewer missiles across their border if they would get their act together and start hitting Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Lashkar-e-Taiba sites on their own and start taking responsibility for their sovereignty rather than just use it as an excuse.
This sudden effort appears to be aimed at proving something, though. The US has pushed India hard to moderate their response vis-a-vis the Mumbai attacks with Pakistan. I suspect that some quid pro quo was arranged to get that response, and stepping up their counterterrorist efforts was chief among the conditions. Attacks on these sites aren’t terribly popular at home, which means the PR effort aims at a different target market.
Earlier today, I wrote about changing the risk-to-reward ratio. Looks like the Bush administration had begun thinking along those lines rather than the “it takes a village” mentality of Friedman’s column.
Update: The front-page pic is not from this airstrike. AFAIK, no images of this strike have been released.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member