Swat Valley battles

The article excerpted below speaks of "resolve" but in fact there is much more at stake than that.

If the Pakistan government does not clear the Swat Valley it will be, rightly, seen as nothing more than a paper tiger. The Taliban will gain a huge victory by avoiding a loss.

Now, the Taliban, as opposed to some of their supporters, is not very expansionist. If Pakistan falls to the Taliban it will be dreadful for women and minority religious groups in Pakistan but perhaps the Taliban will focus inward?

The Taliban will fill a void but they are unlikely (perhaps this is wishful thinking?) to attack India. A war between a nuclear armed India and Taliban ruled Pakistan really does make some of the more extreme eschalogical scenarios plausible.

Gunships, planes strike Pakistan Taliban in Swat

Reuters Sat, 9 May 2009 08:35 EDT

MINGORA, Pakistan — Pakistani helicopter gunships and war planes hit Taliban positions in the militants' Swat valley bastion on Saturday but a curfew prevented civilians from fleeing the fighting. The struggle in the northwestern valley 130 kilometres from Islamabad has become a test of Pakistan's resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the United States and other Western countries. The military said up to 55 militants were killed in the day's clashes and four soldiers were wounded. The figures could not be independently confirmed.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777