More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers were launched on a long-awaited ground offensive to destroy Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday. The Pakistani army attacked militants in South Waziristan, a lawless tribal area, with troops advancing from three directions, strongly supported by fighter planes and helicopter gunships.
This attack has been months in the planning and hopes to emulate the success the army enjoyed in Swat where overwhelming force beat the Taliban and reclaimed the valley.
Last night an army statement said four soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire. Earlier at least 11 suspected insurgents were reported to have been killed in bombing raids. This operation is expected to last a minimum of 8 weeks, independent verification of the progress of the battle will be hard to come by as no foreign journalists are allowed into the area and the Pakistani press have all fled.
It took a threat from America of withholding civilian aid from Pakistan to make this offensive a reality, without US money Pakistan would not be able to survive, and a overthrown Pakistan is a nightmare scenario for the rest of the World, but now that it has started I believe the Pakistani’s will see it through,
Previous army offensives have normally failed because the army never had the stomach for a prolonged fight and would usually make a deal after a while, but after the success of Swat valley they believe they can actually win.
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