Pakistani troops took the main town in a key northwestern valley yesterday after being dropped by helicopters behind Taliban lines on the second day of an offensive, a military spokesman said.
The Taliban’s advance into a region just 100km northwest of Islamabad earlier this month had sent shivers through Pakistan and heightened fears in the US that the nuclear-armed Muslim state was becoming more unstable.
Pakistan’s demonstration of military resolve in Buner valley will likely reassure US President Barack Obama and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai when they meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Washington from May 6 to May 7 to discuss regional strategy.
PHOTO: AFP
Taliban fighters held the entrances to the valley, but they risk being caught between security forces at their front and rear after the successful airdrop.
“The airborne forces have linked up to police and Frontier Constabulary in Daggar,” the military spokesman said. “A link up with ground forces is in progress.”
Residents saw troops rappel down ropes from helicopters outside Daggar, the main town in Buner, while firing and explosions were also heard intermittently.
“We saw a helicopter dropping troops on the hills early this morning. It came about seven or eight times,” said Arshad Imran standing in the town’s central bazaar. “We hear sound of explosions off and on and we can see helicopters flying over the mountains.”
The military estimated some 500 militants were in the Buner valley of the North West Frontier Province, about 140km southeast of the Afghan border, and that it might take a week to clear them out.
Jet fighters and helicopters gunships provided air support for army and paramilitary troops leading the offensive on Tuesday.
The military has said a few hundred militants holed up in the mountains never represented a real threat to the capital.
But, Ikram Seghal, a retired army officer turned analyst, said the Taliban could have used Buner to advance on Tarbela, a dam regarded as critical for water and electricity supplies, before reaching Islamabad.
“It is very important psychologically, tactically and strategically to make sure that Buner is cleared of these Taliban,” Seghal said.
The Pentagon urged Pakistan to remain on the offensive.
“The key is to sustain these operations at this tempo and to keep the militants on their heels and to ultimately defeat them,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
Washington is considering rushing hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to Pakistan, the US Senate’s second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, told reporters.
Pakistan is desperate for military and economic aid to fight an insurgency that has washed back across the border from Afghanistan.
But allies had feared Zardari’s government was too ready to appease the militants after he signed off on a regulation to introduce Islamic Shariah courts in the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province.
Malakand has a long history of Islamist fervor going back to the British Raj in pre-Partition India, even though in earlier times the Swat Valley had been a center of Buddhism and until a couple of years ago had been a favorite destination for honeymooners, hikers and skiers.
The government had hoped that meeting demands for Shariah courts would quiet the militants in Swat.
But the Taliban instead became emboldened, fanning out of Swat into other parts of Malakand, including Buner, Lower Dir and Shangla districts.
The first military operation began in Lower Dir on Sunday. A military spokesman said 10 soldiers and around 70 militants were killed in three days of fighting there.
Independent casualty estimates were unavailable.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS