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*** Al-Qaeda, Being Pushed Out Of Iraq, Saudi Arabia & Other Mashreq States, Is Focusing On North Africa - With Zawahiri Saying Libya's Is Among Maghreb Regimes To Be Overthrown As The Neo-Salafi Movement Is Getting Closer To Andalusia - See This Week's FAP 5 On Iraq
*** King Abdullah's Meet With The Pope Marks A Move Towards A Sunni-Christian Entente, As The Saudis Have Already Worked Out One With Iran's Shi'ite Theocracy Which Will Be Tested Positively On The Iraqi Scene, As Seen In FAP 5
*** The Bush-Erdogan Accord Can Be A Key Development For Turkey - If Its Kemalist Generals Play Their Cards Right Across The Border With Iraqi Kurdistan
NICOSIA - A week after he imposed a state of emergency, Pakistani President and army chief Pervez Musharraf has remained defiant but confused. By Nov. 10, unprecedented diplomatic pressure had failed to persuade him to restore the constitution and set the country back on the path to elections. As pro-democracy protests gathered momentum, fears are growing that the 64-year-old general's martial law may result either in a lengthy dictatorship -from the Western standpoint one of the least bad scenarios - or in a Talibanisation of Pakistan and a re-Talibanisation of Afghanistan.
The best scenario for the West is a power-sharing deal between a Musharraf turned civilian and former PM Benazir Bhutto. The US and its allies have made their fear clear since Nov. 3 - when he suspended the constitution - that, far from enhancing Pakistan's role in the "global war on terror", martial law could weaken it further. It would delay polls which offer the prospect of giving a much-needed civilian face to an unpopular regime and divert military resources.
As thousands of paramilitaries fanned out across Lahore, Karachi and other cities to arrest lawyers and rights activists demanding a return to democracy, the Taliban launched their own coup in Afghanistan and the Pashtun areas of Pakistan. Jihadis in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) moved to fill the vacuum.
Loyal to Maulana Fazlullah, known his long sermons, they took Madyan, a NWFP town in the Swat Valley resort. Emboldened by their capture of the nearby Matta and Khawazakhela towns, the jihadis scared off 40 paramilitaries who fled without firing a shot. It was another defeat for the army in what was its first big confrontation with jihadis outside the tribal areas.
The loss of Madyan came only two days after the government freed 25 jihadis in exchange for 213 soldiers held hostage for more than two months in Waziristan, the centre of violence in the tribal areas. Some of the freed men had been convicted by an anti-terrorism court. The swap brought an end to one of the most embarrassing episodes in the army's history. But it came at a high cost to... |
More articles from APS Diplomat News Service
The Taliban's Role & Implications For Afghanistan., November 12, 2007
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