Pakistan fights 'mother of all battles' with the Taliban

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

The tanks, armoured columns and helicopter gunships of Pakistan's army stormed into South Waziristan, the global headquarters of al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies.

Within hours of leaving their camps early on Saturday morning to fight what is being hailed as the decisive battle in the war against terror, 12 soldiers had been killed in the first ferocious gunfights.

Pakistan's generals have called the offensive the "mother of all battles" for the survival of a country under siege.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/6359467/Pakistan-fights-mother-of-all-battles-with-the-Taliban.html

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This can't be good right?

Is it just me or is the US MSM not reporting this story? Do the sheeple here realize what's happening in our forgotten not so little anymore war over there?

Fark!

At least we're not doing it all ourselves and the Pakistani government is clearly intent on instituting or re-instituting its authority throughout its territory. I wish them luck, because the Zardari government is far, far better than the hell that would be unleashed in the Taliban or their allies made serious headway in Pakistan.

The fact is that it is also the Pakistani army and the Zadari government working together, rather than the army working against the government. We have rightly complained here in the past of the military or ISI covertly helping the Taliban.

The only question I have is with the US pushing the Taliban out of Afghanistan and Pakistan pushing them out of Pakistan, is there a safety valve to let members who want to leave the Taliban surrender.

because the Taliban are outnumbered and outgunned.

It's far better than the Musharraf years when the dictator was openly coddling the religious militants in the northern part of the country while his nuke boss was peddling nuclear bomb directions and hardware all over the world.

The religious terrorists will likely never be defeated completely, but they can be subdued, partially disarmed, and contained. Meticulous police work and international cooperation can reduce the threat they pose.

as a base of operations.

that these pseudo-macho, misogynist muslims always refer to large conflicts as the *mother* of all battles.

Seems the "father" of all battles would be more meaningful to them.

Unless they're saving that up for something really big.

What's wrong with Pakistan starting to do something about the Taliban?

some members in the conflict switching sides in the process), the enumeration of the recent death toll, both civilian and military, the growing fragility of a cohesive government, and the decision by the Army, that to preserve whatever constitutes the nation of Pakistan, it must settle it.

War is brutal, civil war even more so.

popcorn time

Ummm, popcorn.

they have no effect -- they kill a few people here and there but when the Pakistani ISI stops funding them, they will go away. Just a minor nuisance in the large scheme of things -- i.e. balkanizing Pakistan which is illegitimate.

The "mother of all battles" will be fought just after I am drafted. :shrug:

If the Taliban gain more power or take over that country, tell me what good can come of that. What? Beheadings, beatings, women in burqas, women can't walk down the street without a male relative? Better to get rid of those assholes already...the Pakistanis let the Taliban thrive and now they have to get rid of them.

:thumbsdown:

;)

Taliban resist Pakistan onslaught

The army has mobilised artillery and troops in the area
Taliban militants are putting up fierce resistance to the Pakistan army as it attempts to oust them from strongholds in the remote South Waziristan region.

Dozens of casualties have been reported after the first day of the attack - the biggest offensive for six years.

Unconfirmed reports say 26 militants and five soldiers have been killed as heavy artillery and air strikes pound Taliban hideouts for a second day.

Thousands of civilians have fled the area for safety.

Up to 20,000 people have entered camps just outside the area, with aid agencies warning that many more could be displaced by fighting.

The military, mobilising from three directions, is controlling entry and exit points in the region.

Reports from the area are sketchy as it is difficult and dangerous for foreign or Pakistani journalists to operate inside South Waziristan.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8312932.stm

hopefully it goes better this time than the last.

"The terrain in both North and South Waziristan is a difficult place for a modern army to fight. Thick with mountains and having few roads to support large-scale troop movements, the ground favors the defenders. Winter snows usually begin in November and block the mountain passes.

The Taliban have been in overt control of the region since 2004 and have had time to prepare the battlefield. They will have dispersed ammunition and weapons caches, built bunkers and fighting positions, and seeded the region with mines (IEDs). The Taliban have fought on this ground and know it well; they have defeated the Pakistani Army in four separate engagements since 2004"
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/10/analysis_what_lies_a.php

That's not something that's happened very often lately at all.

I'm glad I'm in the other hemisphere.

I expect this is mainly a dog and pony show after we gave a few billion more to Pakistani's corrupt military.

so I wouldn't point to the low bodycount thus far as evidence that Pakistan is simply going through the motions without putting in much of a serious effort.

If anything, Pakistan finally seems to have wisened up and realized that their best shot of winning this fight is if the U.S. is in the region and willing to provide support.

hours straight - on three cable stations.

Even the efforts of US troops are poorly covered and this was the Pakistani army. The fact this is a huge deal and what happens there has enormous possible effects. This is just another example that cable news is really just entertainment.