Conflict in Northwest Pakistan
The conflict in northwest Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistani army and Islamists, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It began in 2004 when tensions escalated over the Pakistani army ’s search for al-Qaida members in Waziristan .
prehistory
After the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was overthrown by a US-led military operation in 2001 , Taliban fled Afghanistan established themselves in the northwestern regions of Pakistan. There they initially gained control of areas within the federally administered tribal areas (FATA), a Pakistani special territory that is mostly inhabited by Pashtuns. This region, which was characterized in particular by weak control by the central government, had already been used by the Taliban as a retreat. From the tribal areas, the Taliban attacked the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan . The then President Pervez Musharraf tried from 2001 in connection with the war on terror to prevent the Taliban from being held in northwestern Pakistan.
Outbreak of conflict
At the beginning of 2004, the Pakistani central government dispatched 80,000 soldiers to the tribal areas. There, mainly in southern and northern Waziristan , clashes broke out between Pakistani troops and the Taliban and other fighters, each of whom was joined by local clans. Several hundred Pakistani soldiers died in this conflict by 2006. On the initiative of the Governor of NWFP, Ali Muhammad Orakzai , one was at this time Jirga convened, the fighting was hoped for by the termination. As a result of this meeting, the Pakistani government concluded the Miranshah Agreement with the tribes of North Wasiristan on September 5, 2006 . The main points were a withdrawal of the Pakistani army from the tribal areas and the cessation of fighting by the Pakistani armed forces. Instead, tribesmen should replace the government troops and take care of the protection of the local authorities.
The Miranshah Accords of September 5, 2006 ended the clashes between the Pakistani government and the majority of local tribes. It was criticized, however, that this promoted rather than slowed down the influence of the Taliban. The Taliban subsequently murdered several tribal leaders who had signed the agreement and continued to expand. In 2007, the Taliban openly recruited new members to Koran schools and tried to force their cooperation by attacking school authorities. The Taliban also carried out attacks on institutions that were incompatible with their worldview, such as B. Music and video stores or fashion stores. In addition, the Taliban took action against criminals and authorities. At that time, they increasingly took hostages among the region’s police forces in order to free their prisoners. In December 2007, the various Islamist and Taliban groups united to form "Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan" (TTP), the Taliban movement in Pakistan. The leader of this organization was the Islamist and tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud . According to Harvard scholar Hassan Abbas, Mehsud's goals were to introduce Sharia law in Pakistan, continue the fight against NATO in Afghanistan, a kind of " defensive jihad " against the Pakistani army and an uncompromising line towards the Pakistani government. Abbas estimated that Mehsud had about 5,000 men under his command.
So far, the Pakistani military has won almost every battle against the fighters. However, militancy still remains strong in various parts of the Northwest Frontier Province . In 2008 the Pakistani military and the UK and US Border Corps received counterinsurgency training. When Mehsud died in a US drone attack in early August 2009, violent clashes broke out over his successor, from which Hakimullah Mehsud emerged as the new leader of the Taliban.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The War in Pakistan - washingtonpost.com. Washingtonpost.com, accessed October 19, 2008 .
- ↑ Zaffar Abbas: BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan's undeclared was. News.bbc.co.uk, September 10, 2004, accessed October 19, 2008 .
- ↑ David Montero: Killing scares media away from Waziristan. Christian Science Monitor , June 22, 2006, accessed August 25, 2008 .
- ↑ Pakistan attacks Waziristan compound. Al Jazeera , March 16, 2006, accessed August 25, 2008 .
- ↑ Radicals in Pakistan: Al-Qaeda is fighting for more influence with the Taliban. In: Spiegel Online . October 18, 2009, accessed June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ US training Pakistani forces to fight Taliban in: NBC News, October 25, 2008