Saturday, May 01, 2004

And lest we forget - that "Spring Offensive"

The one that was to wipe out the Taliban on the Pak-Afghan border....

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on "terror", and US officials welcomed the March military operation - although it angered local people and failed to yield arrests of any senior al-Qaida figures.

The operation ended when tribal elders sought time to negotiate a deal between local fighters and the army which led to five powerful pro-al-Qaida leaders accepting an amnesty offer.

Since then, foreign fighters have not been seen in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. Officials say they have moved to caves near the border with Afghanistan with light and heavy weapons.

...Pakistan has extended by a week a deadline for suspected Taliban and al-Qaida fighters...to surrender.

...A week ago, Pakistan set 30 April as a deadline, saying that if 'foreign fighters' promised to live peacefully, they would be allowed to stay in South Waziristan - the scene of a "counterterrorism" operation in April which left 120 people dead including 48 soldiers.

However, by Friday none had come forward raising fears of renewed bloodshed....
  Aljazeera article

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!