I have been hoping for months now that the pressure we have been seeing put on the Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants inside the tribal areas of Pakistan might bear some fruit. Back in January of this year there were reports that a new Taliban leader, Baitullah Meshud, was charting a new and dangerous course by attacking the Pakistan forces instead of launching attacks into Afghanistan against NATO. This new course was apparently rejected by Mullah Omar, the Afghan leader under the Taliban leading up to 9-11.

Mullah Omar had dismissed Mehsud for fighting against the Pakistan Army instead of NATO forces, the Asia Times Online reported.

Mehsud, who had been appointed by Omar as the chief of the Pakistani Taleban, was expected to provide support to the Taleban in Afghanistan, but instead directed all his fighters against Pakistani security forces.

You really don’t want to attack your hosts, who may also be giving your forces some cover. It seems there are three general camps in the tribal areas. Those who want peace (and who Baitullah Meshud just massacred), those who want to fight the NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, and those who want to fight Pakistan as well. As these groups splinter, they are attacking each other, and making our job easier.

A news report out today claims Baitullah Meshud as made a new set of enemies in Pakistan:

Conflicts surfaced within the ranks of militant leaders on Tuesday when Taliban commanders from the Ahmedzai and Utmanzai Wazir tribes announced the formation of a bloc against Baitullah Mehsud.

“We have formed a bloc to defend the Wazir tribes’ interests in North and South Waziristan,” Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir told Daily Times in Wana. He said the bloc was established on Monday. Nazir joined hands with Haji Gul Bahadar, a Taliban chief from North Waziristan, after several weeks of discussions.

Differing views: “The two Taliban commanders do not have good relations with Baitullah Mehsud, and both Gul Bahadar and Maulvi Nazir disagree with Baitullah’s methods of conducting jihad inside Pakistan,” the analysts said.

…

Analysts claim that Bahadar’s ‘control’ of border areas in North Waziristan will make Baitullah’s passage through “enemy territory” difficult.

I don’t think Biatullah’s massacre of 22 tribal leaders the other week went over well with his neighbors. On top of that, as his forces attempted once again to invade and control the NWFP area which is northeast of the FATA region he operates out of, he simply brought down the wrath of the Pakistani government who had to mobilize forces against three militant tribes.

The one problem which remains is those militants that want to use Pakistan’s FATA area as a base of operations against Afghanistan:

Two militant groups based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan say they will co-ordinate attacks against coalition forces inside Afghanistan.

There are frequent reports of cross-border raids by the groups, who are led by commanders from the Wazir tribe.

Both the groups have had peace deals with Pakistan’s government since 2007.

Those “peace deals” I believe include bans on cross border activities. But that is irrelevant. The US has been quite clear that it will take out forces attacking our units – even if they are in Pakistan. And as my previous post notes, we have arrangements with Pakistan to do just that.

If folks recall the “Awakening” in Iraq’s Anbar Province which led to the defeat of al-Qaeda there began with this same kind of infighting. Let’s all hope this is the case in Pakistan.

FYI – here is post from “Foreign Policy” blog along the same lines as this one.

Update: From the Long War Journal we find more evidence of the suicidal stupidity of Taliban ‘fighters’ trying to attack US forces in Afghanistan:

The US military and Afghan National Army fought yet another major engagement in eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. An estimated 33 Taliban were killed in a battle in the Spera district in Khost province.

The battle began after the Taliban launched a complex attack on a US outpost in the Spera district, right along the Pakistani border. The Taliban followed up a rocket attack with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. US forces beat back the attack with “mortar, artillery fire and close air support,” the International Security Assistance Force reported in a press release.

The Taliban fighters “crossed into Pakistan.” The US military said the Pakistani border guards launched an artillery strike at the Taliban forces, and estimated 33 Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting. No US or Afghan forces were killed in the engagements.

If the Islamo Fascists want to run up to our forces to give them some target practice – have at it. This is best example of the ‘fly paper’ element of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns I have seen in quite some time. The concept is by placing our forces in the land of the Islamo Fascists they cannot sit by and just let us operate in their back yard, they need to come out and attack us.

The concept works because these militants, while brutal and evil, are completely outgunned when it comes to our military systems. Iraq was the big fly paper trap, killing thousands and thousands of Jihadists. Afghanistan is the other fly paper trap. We have issues with the militants taking sanctuary in Pakistan. But if the thugs coming rushing across the border once a week to ‘repel the infidels’ then it won’t be long before their fighting force will be spent.

Tags: Afghanistan, Baitullah Meshud, FATA, NWFP, Pakistan, Taliban