Pat Dollard

Tweet

This is rich. I’m sure they’re not buying time or anything to regroup and hide their leader so he doesn’t get blowed up like the Al Qaeda boss we got last week. I’m sure this’ll last a long, long time…

Don’t back off, Pakistan and U.S.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – A coalition of Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday declared an “indefinite” cease-fire in fighting against Pakistani security forces.

Maulvi Mohammed Umar, a purported spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group for militants operating in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, said that the cease-fire was declared following talks with the government.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied knowledge of any talks and said they had no formal communication from the militants of a cease-fire. But he said that militants in South Waziristan had stopped firing on security forces.

“Since the last 48 hours or so they have stopped firing and moved a little back. We would look into this, but so far the position is the operation will continue until the time we finish off the miscreants and their hideouts and their arms and ammunitions caches,” Abbas told The Associated Press.

Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, who is based in the lawless South Waziristan region, which has borne the brunt of the violence. He is also blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the Dec. 27 assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

“The declaration of war we made against security forces on orders by Baitullah Mehsud. We now withdraw that for an indefinite period,” Umar told the AP by telephone.

Umar said the cease-fire will cover the tribal regions—a lawless, semiautonomous belt that includes North and South Waziristan—as well as in Swat, a former tourist destination where security forces have battled followers of a radical, pro-Taliban cleric.

In January, Mehsud fighters launched a series of assaults on military bases in South Waziristan, underscoring government’s weak grip on the region that U.S. officials say is a safe haven for al-Qaida.

Last week, a U.S. missile strike killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al- Qaida commander, in neighboring North Waziristan.

The recent wave of violence has pitched Pakistan deeper into turmoil as it heads toward Feb. 18 elections meant to usher back democracy after eight years of military rule.

But any agreement by Pakistan to a cease-fire would likely be frowned on by its Western allies. A cease-fire in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed the following July, was widely seen as giving Taliban and al-Qaida a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and expand their reach inside Pakistan.

(AP)