Taliban Forcing Musharraf's Hand
The agreement reached between Pervez Musharraf and the tribal leaders of Waziristan appeared to allow the Pakistani leader to back away from the war on terror. Unfortunately, Islamist terrorists don't have the habit of respecting boundaries, and now they have begun to use their new autonomy for attacks in Pakistan rather than Afghanistan:
Along the Afghan border, not far from this northwestern city, Islamic militants have used a firm foothold over the past year to train and dispatch suicide bombers against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.But in recent weeks the suicide bombers have turned on Pakistan itself, carrying out six attacks and killing 35 people. Militant leaders have threatened to unleash scores more, in effect opening a new front in their war.
Diplomats and concerned residents see the bombings as proof of a spreading “Talibanization,” as Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, calls it, which has seeped into more settled districts of Pakistan from the tribal areas along the border, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have made a home.
In Peshawar and other parts of North-West Frontier Province, which abuts the tribal areas, residents say English-language schools have received threats, schoolgirls have been warned to veil themselves, music is being banned and men are told not to shave their beards.
Then there is the mounting toll of the suicide bombings. One of the most lethal killed 15 people in Peshawar, most of them police officers, including the popular police chief.
This shows once again the folly of appeasing terrorists. Musharraf should have known better. The Islamists have twice tried to assassinate him, and he responded by backing off from Waziristan. They countered that by spreading their suicidal jihad into the heart of Pakistan, giving Musharraf's citizens a taste of radical Islamist terror -- and they do not find it to their taste.
Pakistanis have reacted with revulsion to the sudden plague of suicide attacks against fellow Muslims. The attacks have all come from the Wana region of south Waziristan, right where Musharraf left the terrorists to build their strength. The outcry from the attacks coming from the terrorist warlords has begun to undermine public confidence in Musharraf.
Now Musharraf faces a tough choice. Continue his failing appeasement strategy and watch as Pakistanis eventually reject his regime as the attacks continue or escalate it -- or end it, and hope to wipe out the jihadis before they can do the same to him. In fact, regardless of whether Musharraf continues his appeasement strategy, the jihadis will continue their attacks on Pakistan. Musharraf's only choice is to fight or surrender - if they'll let him.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on March 14, 2007 4:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
