Pakistan Fighting Militants on 2 Fronts

Pakistan Fighting Militants on 2 Fronts
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ISMAIL KHAN
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: June 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/world/asia/02pstan.html?ref=global-home


PESHAWAR, Pakistan — It was several weeks into a military campaign to flush out militants from a valley north of Pakistan’s capital, and the words of a Taliban commander, Maulana Fazlullah, crackled over a handheld radio.

“How are you? Is everything alright?” said Mr. Fazlullah, the main commander in the Swat Valley, according to a transcript of a radio intercept recorded by the Pakistani military.

There was no response.

“Don’t lose morale,” he said. “Go into the trees and take the sniper rifles with you. Take aim and fire. You should be able to kill at least one or two.”

The exchange was part of a series of conversations among Taliban militants in Swat that the Pakistani military recorded since the beginning of its offensive there last month. The discussions were transcribed, translated into Urdu, Pakistan’s official language, and compiled in a log book by intelligence officials here, and senior Pakistani military officials allowed The New York Times to read it.

The snippets, audible when the military happened to find the constantly changing frequency on which the militants were speaking, offer brief glimpses into the lives of the militants during the past weeks of war that vanish as fast as they appear.

The military argues the conversations are proof that the militants have suffered a serious setback in Swat, a scenic valley just north of here that had become a Taliban stronghold. But the military campaign is not over, and the top leadership, including Mr. Fazlullah, is still at large.

The Taliban is striking back in other areas. The Taliban kidnapped students, teachers and a principal riding in four cars from Razmak Cadet College on Monday in Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold in western Pakistan. The government has said Waziristan would be the next front in its campaign against the Taliban.

The Swat campaign, which began on May 8, is seen as a test case for Pakistan’s resolve to tackle its spreading insurgency, which came within 70 miles from its capital, Islamabad, earlier this year. Two earlier offensives failed, criticized as half-hearted efforts that inflicted too many civilian casualties.

But this time is different, military officials argue, as the army has committed more than double the number of troops, and has broad public support, opening a potential opportunity for the government to re-establish its authority in the area.

Whatever the outcome, the militant chatter in recent weeks sounded gloomy. There were some inspirational words, some jihad battle rallying cries, but also many lost, hungry and isolated voices. One resident of the village of Khazara said Taliban leaders gathered locals in the Minara Mosque shortly before he and his family fled, demanding contributions of a gun, a son, or 50,000 rupees in cash, but few obliged.

On May 27, a militant who called himself Abu Daud, asked urgently: “Where are the five boys we trained? Where are they? Bring them here because we need them.”

The response was not encouraging: “One has been killed and two are alive. I don’t know about the others.”

The militants were careful not to give the names of locations, using a system of code names instead, many of them Arabian battles. The military believes top leaders, including Mr. Fazlullah, who is barely five and a half feet tall, walks with a limp, and wears a black turban, is still hiding in Swat, and has not escaped to another area.

Mr. Fazlullah does not use an alias, Pakistani military commanders said, though some of his followers refer to him as Abu Amin. In one puzzling piece of chatter in recent weeks, a voice passes down an order that appeared calculated to confuse the military — that Mingora, the most populous city, should be called Buner, a district.

“Abu Amin has given the order that Mingora should be henceforth referred to as Buner,” the voice said.

The area of fighting has been off limits to journalists and it is not clear how much of a fight militants put up. Guerrillas often melt away when faced with superior firepower, only to resurface later. About eight brigades — approximately 16,000 troops — were committed to the offensive, more than double past campaigns.

A Swat resident who fled, Adnan Rashid, said in the later stages of the fighting, militants would shoot very short bursts from their guns, in order not to waste bullets.

The military says over 1,000 militants have been killed, but that is only an estimate. Most were pulled off the battlefield and buried by comrades before being counted, and some were probably civilians. There has been no casualty count of civilians.

The civilians seemed to irritate the militants.

A man who called himself Jawad fumed on May 27 that villagers were raising white flags on their houses. “Why are these gutless people holding white flags?” he said.

Another man responded: “Everyone has their own will. How can we stop them?”

Earlier, in a public meeting, everyone had supported them, Jawad said. “Tell them if they are scared they should leave, but no one should raise a white flag,” he said.

Young men and boys make up a significant portion of the Taliban in Swat, military officials say, and there was chatter on that topic too.

A man who called himself Khatab said, “tell all the comrades in your area not to mention the death or injury of mujaheddin to under age comrades. If they ask if their comrades have been martyred, tell them they’ve gone to some other place.”

Sometimes the young people are a liability.

A film studio in Swat, called al-Fatah, which is believed to be operated by militants, has produced four DVDs showing teenagers preparing for suicide missions. In one, a young man, who is not identified, is seen waving and smiling from in the drivers seat of a truck. The camera then cuts to a giant blast and ball of fire that the video identifies as a police station in the town of Charbagh.

“We have two boys here who say they are sick and want to go home,” one man said.

The reply came: “Send them to us tomorrow. They’ve become a headache. Keep them under close watch. They know a lot about us.”

Irfan Ashraf contributed reporting