Daily Times Editorial June 10, 2011

Struggle against terrorism

Since the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a new pattern in the struggle against terrorism has emerged. Drone attacks in FATA have accelerated. The latest attacks the other day on North Waziristan killed 24 terrorists, amongst whom it is believed foreigners and Punjabi Taliban were included. The Zawai Narai area of Shawal tehsil (sub-district), on the border between North and South Waziristan was where these terrorists were targeted. It is an area run by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a prominent terrorist leader. Wednesday’s strike came two days after US missiles fired by drones killed 18 terrorists in South Waziristan, which till now was the deadliest strike for months. The US not only seems oblivious to Pakistan’s protests against drone strikes, which some say are ritual denunciations for public consumption while the Pakistani civil and military authorities are actually complicit in the whole enterprise, Washington is unlikely to pay heed either to Russian Consul General in Karachi Andrey Demidov’s criticism of the drone strikes inside Pakistan.
While both Waziristans receive more than their share of attention by the drones, attacks from across the border with Afghanistan in the Dir area have not completely abated. And in a clash with terrorists in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, five terrorists and two security personnel were killed. Clearly the escalation by the US of drone strikes since May 2, reflecting growing impatience with Pakistan’s military establishment’s games, has evoked a number of responses. Maulvi Nazir, another of Pakistan’s most influential extremist leaders, has vowed to retaliate against the pounding by drones in recent days of an area of South Waziristan along the border with Afghanistan that he controls, by sending more fighters to attack US and allied troops in Afghanistan. His logic is that they have sufficient fighters, more will be recruited because the drones are also killing innocents, and since they cannot shoot down the drones, their riposte will be on the ground in Afghanistan. Ayman al-Zwahiri, bin Laden’s number two, has in the meantime, in a video eulogy to his dead leader, promised to continue bin Laden’s jihad, prophesying that the slain terrorist leader will continue to terrorise the US and its allies in death as he did in life.
While Leon Panetta, outgoing CIA chief and appointee-designate as the next defence secretary has again urged Pakistan to do more against the militants within its borders, 90 US military trainers out of 135 attached to the Frontier Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been asked to pack their bags and return home. This may well be the beginning of more ‘expulsions’ to come of US personnel operating on Pakistani soil since 9/11. Despite these negative signals, and the chorus of voices in Congress to cut aid to Pakistan, State Department spokesman Mark Toner continued to argue in his daily briefing that the anti-terror cooperation with Pakistan was in the US’s interest. And in US designate-ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker’s confirmation hearings in Washington, there was a lot of discussion about the fact that the US spends $ 120 billion on Afghanistan and only $ 2.8 billion on Pakistan, yet the terrorist safe havens are on Pakistani soil. This implies, was the sense of the discussion, that unless that situation is tackled, success in Afghanistan will remain a chimera.
In other words, voices questioning the US’s approach and methods are getting louder at home and elsewhere. The implied paradigm that there is a link between poverty and terrorism is refuted by a new study, “Poverty and Support for Militant Politics: Evidence from Pakistan”, whose four academic authors argue on the basis of a 6,000 respondent survey that the poor and those in areas of the worst terrorist conflict do not support militant organisations as their activities, and the authorities’ response to those, cause them the greatest hardship. Instead, the argument goes, it is the middle class that provides most of the cannon fodder for the terrorists. This may require more focus on this section of society as well as promoting secular education to combat extremist mindsets.
All the above indicates just how complicated, confusing, contradictory the struggle against terrorism has become. Without all anti-terrorist forces, domestic and foreign, being on the same page, the terrorists are probably smirking all the way to the bank.