Change is coming to South Waziristan
That’s partly what this new Afghan offensive is about.
The mandate to give chase to the insurgents, at least using Western ground troops, stops at the rugged, mountainous border. Just across from Khowst and Paktika lie two of the most insurgent-plagued of Pakistan’s tribal areas, North and South Waziristan.
Pakistani army commanders, after years of looking the other way while militants had free rein in the tribal areas, are in the early stages of what is billed as a major assault on South Waziristan, the redoubt of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mahsud.
Pakistani officials say Mahsud, who is accused of masterminding a campaign of suicide bombings in Pakistan and the assassination of onetime Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, narrowly escaped a missile attack last week believed to have been carried out by drones, the main U.S. weapon for reaching across the border from Afghanistan.
And…
Despite pressure on the Pakistani side of the border — including not only the Pakistani military offensive, but U.S. drone attacks and intertribal rivalries — insurgents continue to make their way back and forth across the thinly guarded frontier.
But…
But their comings and goings do not go unobserved.
“We know who they are, and we know where they come from,” said a U.S. military official familiar with intelligence on cross-border movement of Taliban commanders, foot soldiers and armaments.
This large assault is covering new ground.
Reversing the insurgency’s momentum has been a key component of the new U.S. strategy, and thousands of additional troops allow commanders to push and stay into areas where international and Afghan troops had no permanent presence before.
