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Pakistan plans to cut troops from Waziristan border region
By Farhan Bokhari
22 May 2008
Pakistan's newly elected government is planning for a 'thinning' of troops from some of the front lines in the country's northwestern tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the military claims that a decisive victory has now been won against Taliban insurgents.
Speaking to Jane's on 18 May as part of a media visit to the South Waziristan zone of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas arranged by the Pakistani military, Major General Athar Abbas, the military's chief spokesman and director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations service, said that "the army would still have a dominating presence" in the area and that a peace agreement would not be followed by a withdrawal.
"Until we are sure that the tribal elders and jirga [tribal council] are fully in place, we will stay here," he said, referring to the main mechanisms used in the region to maintain law and order.
The visit to the tribal areas provided a first-hand look at districts where the military has established control, but which, in some cases, remain empty following collective punishment - a long-standing practice in the tribal areas - meted out by the government to the local people for supporting militants.
The repositioning of troops follows a peace agreement between the government, which was elected in February, and tribal militants led by Baitullah Mehsud, a warlord who has overseen numerous attacks on Pakistani government installations since the beginning of 2007.