Very interesting read over how Taliban now rules over large parts of the Pashtun areas and is practically another state separate from Pakistan. And how easily the ANP, so called Pashtun seculars are tied to the hip with the Taliban.
The Brits did a great job screwing over the people of the region by drawing the Durand line.
Pakistan’s Swat peace agreement in the crossfire
By Bill RoggioJune 9, 2008 2:42 PM
Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is de facto control; yellow is under threat.
Tensions have arisen between the central government and the Taliban in Swat, and the central government at the provincial government, over the Swat peace agreement signed last month. The central government said the Swat accord has been negated due to Taliban attacks. The Taliban and the Awami National Party, which administers the Northwest Frontier Province, said the agreement was still valid.
“The Swat agreement is scrapped as the militants have (continued) their attacks on security forces,” Rahman Malik, an advisor to Pakistan’s prime minister said. Malik’s statement comes after four policemen were killed in an ambush in the provincial capital of Peshawar. On June 5, two policemen and two civilians were wounded in a shootout in Nowshera. Peshawar has been described as a “walled city,” while its police chief said the Taliban is poised to overrun the city.
Both the Taliban and the provincial government said the deal was intact. Bashir Bilour, the senior minister in the Northwest Frontier Province and the leader of the Awami National Party “reacted angrily” to the central government’s announcement, according to the Press Trust of India. Bilour said the peace agreement was still intact, Pajhwok reported.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said that since the agreement was signed with the provincial government, and “not with Rehman Malik”, the central government could not negate the agreement.
Prior to the latest dispute over the peace agreement, the provincial government has been conducting prisoner exchanges with the Taliban. Seven Taliban in Swat were released on June 7; 64 were released in Swat on June 6; and 75 were freed in Malakand on June 4.
The Taliban put the Pakistani government on notice just one day ago. The Taliban distributed pamphlets to Pakistani news organizations that warned the government to stick to the peace agreements or face a new campaign of violence. The Taliban threatened to open “new fronts” within Pakistan. The extremists also said the government must end its support for the US-led war on terror “as its ramifications could be dangerous.”
This year, the government signed peace deals in Swat, Bajaur, Malakand, and Mohmand. Negotiations are under way in Kohat and Mardan. The Taliban has violated the terms of thees agreements in every region where accords have been inked.