Pakistan's Swat Valley: Civilians, Soldiers, and the Taliban

A unilateral military offensive is endangering innocent civilians. Except that it isn't the American military: so the tone is a bit different.

To be fair, there have been some of the conventional headlines, like "Army offensive in Pakistan's Swat spurs fears of humanitarian crisis." (CBC (May 7, 2009))

Pakistani troops are re-taking Pakistan's SWAT valley, after the Pakistani government turned over control (for practical purposes) of the valley to the Taliban, earlier this year. To be fair again, there may have been good reason to temporarily cede control to the Taliban.

What's happening now is unpleasant, to say the least. One article describes a city in Swat as a "ghost town." (AFP)

'If You Can't Kill a Soldier, Kill a Civilian'

A Pakistani English-language news article gave this perspective on what was happening in the Swat valley:

"Northwest expert Rahimullah Yusufzai said the Taliban were increasingly focused on civilian targets as widespread public opinion turns — for the first time — in favour of Pakistan's military operation.

"The offensive already has the firm backing of Washington, which says Al-Qaeda and Taliban have carved out safe havens in the northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan to plot terror attacks on the West.

" 'The Taliban have jacked up attacks targeting civilians as they have failed to target security forces,' Yusufzai said...."

Sounds like the Taliban is taking a page from Al Qaeda's playbook: harassing people living around them, in order to gain support. In Iraq, that strategy resulted in the Anbar Awakening. Iraqis, faced with Muslims who beheaded other Muslims and non-Muslim foreigners who protected Muslims while rebuilding roads and machinery, chose to help the non-Muslims.

Something like that could happen in Pakistan: provided that the Pakistani military follow America's example of being careful (Churchill and Code Pink notwithstanding) about collateral damage.

Related posts:

• "Pakistan; Nawaz Sharif; Multiculturalism; and a Skewed World View"
  (March 15, 2009)
• "Pakistan: Cricket Fans Not Pleased"
  (March 4, 2009)
• "Not Cricket! Sri Lanka's Cricket Team Attacked in Pakistan"
  (March 3, 2009)
• "Taliban Brings Peace, Islamic Law, to Pakistan's Swat Valley"
  (February 21, 2009)
• "Pakistan, the Taliban, and Peace Through Diplomacy"
  (February 17, 2009)
• "Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Foreign Troops: One Issue, Two Approaches"
  (September 16, 2008)
• "Pakistan: Still a Mess"
  (November 17, 2007)

In the news:

• "Pakistan battles Taliban; Swat offensive 'near end' "
  Reuters (May 31, 2009)
• "Pakistan: ICRC enters Swat, finds civilians' situation dire"
  International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) press release (May 31, 2009)
• "Taliban take war to Pakistan cities"
  DAWN.com (May 31, 2009)
  (associated with Pakistan Herald)
• "Pakistan secures key Swat Valley city"
  CNN (May 31, 2009)
• "Pakistan army spokesman fights media war"
  CNN (May 29, 2009)
• " Taliban claims responsibility for Lahore suicide attack"
  CNN (May 28, 2009)
• "Pakistan secures key Swat Valley city"
  CNN (May 30, 2009)