Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Pakistani Army v. The Taliban




From The Weekly Standard:


The Pakistani military is yet again on the offensive against the Taliban in the district of Swat, which is well outside of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. This is the third time the military has tried to eject the Taliban in the past two years. The two previous efforts ultimately failed, despite more than a division of Pakistani forces deployed in the small region.

There are three reasons for past Pakistani Army failures. One, the Taliban are organized to fight in military formations and are fighting fiercely. Two, the Pakistani Army has no aptitude to fight a counterinsurgency and over relies on airstrikes and artillery to dislodge the Taliban. This causes inordinate amount of civilian casualties and keeps the military from exploiting human intelligence. And three, the Pakistani military just flat out lacks the will to fight, which, by the way, is another reason they over rely on air and artillery strikes.

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My Comment: Now we know why the Taliban are winning in Pakistan.

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