Afghanistan-Pakistan: On Ground Updates - June 27, 2008

Afghanistan-Pakistan:
On Ground Updates
Pakistan's Peshawar Under Threat
Of Falling To Taliban
Friday, June 27, 2008

ATimes.com brings us this troubling report this morning and it begins like this... With grudging surprise, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has acknowledged the strength of the Taliban, illustrated by its repeated calls for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, notably for the two important provinces of Kandahar and Khost... There has even been speculation that these provinces might fall, significantly increasing the pressure on the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai... The NATO command reasoned the only response was joint operations with the Pakistani military along the Durand Line that separates Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Islamabad, under Washington's pressure, this year began preparations to cooperate...
Read the full report at link below...
Islamabad blinks at Taliban threat

Reuters.com reports...
Taliban bring vigilante law to Pakistan's Peshawar

TheNews.com.pk website reports the story this way... At a senior-level meeting on the state of the militancy in the tribal belt, the government has again reiterated its plan to follow a strategy of engagement combining dialogue and the use of force. The COAS will have the responsibility for reviewing the need for military operations, while the civilian arms of the state are meant to initiate the dialogue with tribal elders. At the same time, there have been claims of heightened militancy in the NWFP in general, where Peshawar itself it viewed to be in threat of falling to the Taliban. Such fears do seem exaggerated as it is one thing for the militants to run around free of checks in the tribal areas and quite another to take over a provincial capital. Either way, what is clear is that the government is failing to push with a clear agenda of engagement in the tribal belt...
Read the full report at link below...
Need for focused strategy