Apr 28 2006
Pakistan Near Victory On Al Qaeda?
The unseen front on the GWOT has been Pakistan’s northern tribal regions along the Afghan border. Unseen because the US press doesn’t report on it. There were moments of media attention when Al Qaeda bigs were killed in attacks, but other than that very little reporting.
Well Pakistan’s President Musharraf is claiming his country is about finished dealing with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. This is interesting, and possibly optimistic, news. The theories regarding Bin Laden’s hold out include this region of the world (with the other likely place being Iran).
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that the battle against the Al Qaeda in the tribal areas of the country has been “almost won”.
“Extremism in a Talibanised form is being practised in Waziristan, where Mullah Omar and the Taliban have influence, and it’s spilling over into our settled areas,” Musharraf said.
Musharraf then made some interesting news with this announcement:
Musharraf has said he will hold free and fair elections next year.
Well, that will be interesting
This makes Zawahiri’s comments all the more interesting. Zawahiri’s calling for the Pakistanis to overthrow Musharaf, which would confirm that al Qaeda’s taking a real pasting in Pakistan and that they need a breather that can only come if Musharaf is out of the picture.