Taliban on the Front Line at the Pakistan Border

By Françoise Chipaux
Le Monde

A pakol (a flat wool hat with rolled sides) on his head, his black beard untrimmed, Khursheed Wazir is nervous. A hardened fighter who made jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan along with Jalalludin Haqani - and then became a Taliban Minister and remains in the "students of religion" movement even today - Malawi Khursheed, as he now calls himself, having adopted the local term for Mullah, is officially wanted by Pakistan for his role in the combat that is taking place in the tribal area of North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.

Since the beginning of March, violent confrontations have been taking place between Pakistani security forces and jihad militants, who, according to Malawi Khursheed, fight for "the establishment of sharia (Islamic law) and their freedom" against the government, which seeks to impose its authority in these tribal areas that have enjoyed semi-autonomy since ancient times.

Urged on by the United States to make order reign in these sectors that have served as refuges for the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies since they lost power in Kabul in 2001, the Pakistani army has deployed close to 80,000 men along the Afghan border, without any evident results. The militant Islamists, who enjoy the more or less tacit support of the very conservative local populace, have, on the other hand, consolidated their control.

"We gain more territory every day; we open offices to facilitate people's lives," asserts the Malawi Khursheed. "The government also has its offices, but they do nothing. The political agent (Islamabad's representative in each tribal area) can't leave his house. The army holds the main roads, but can't venture out into the countryside."

Several testimonies confirm that the security forces mostly confine themselves to quarters and only go out in large convoys. There are no days on which army posts are not attacked. That provokes reprisals, which feed a cycle of violence favorable to the rebels in this region where revenge is unlimited in time. "What did the political agent do when around twenty thieves terrorized the population?" the Malawi Khursheed asks rhetorically. "We arrested, judged, and hung them," he says, alluding to an event that took place three months ago and about which the militants made a video showing the decapitated corpses hanging from electric poles as examples.

The Taliban or pro-Taliban fighters are remorseless. Asked about the fate of 52 security forces members whom they say they arrested last week, Malawi Khursheed announces: "The officers or senior officials will be killed. The soldiers will have to swear on the Koran that they will not attack the mudjahadeen again and they'll be released. Those who trick us - and there have been some - were killed."

This forty-something man from North Waziristan contests the Pakistani government's version of events, which accuses "foreign militants" of being responsible for incidents in Pashtun tribal areas. "Yes, there are foreigners, but we make the decisions and command the operations," he says. If, for the most part, the foreigners are jihad militants who have long been in the region, several sources confirm the regular arrival of small numbers of young Muslims who come to make holy war. "They come from Germany, the United States, Gulf countries," asserts Malawi Khursheed.

To Spread Sharia as Far as Peshawar

"Everyone loves martyrdom for Islam," he adds, stating: "If we had more money, we could buy more cars and do suicide operations." According to several independent observers, future suicide-commandos receive their training in Waziristan before being sent for operations in Afghanistan.

Malawi Khursheed is an intimate of the Saudi Islamist Mahmoud Al-Kathani, one of the four al-Qaeda members who escaped from the American Bagram prison in July 2005 and who are still abroad in the southeastern region of Afghanistan. He doesn't hide the unity of the struggle between the fighters on both sides of the border. "Normally, the militants who fight in Afghanistan stay there, but if the pressure is too great, they cross over to Pakistan," he says. Several cross-checkings of intelligence gathered from border zone inhabitants indicate that American troops also cross the border in cases of necessity. Elsewhere, sheltered by Pakistani security forces' barracks, American agents intervene in Waziristan, where they help the Pakistani army.

In the Malawi Khursheed's view, the main battle is in Pakistan, where, he says, "if the government continues its policy, fighting will increase." He doesn't hide the fact that he and his peers want to spread sharia and their vision of Islam as far as Peshawar (capital of Pakistan's northwest border province). This province is led by an alliance of religious parties that "are not hostile to us," the Malawi makes clear. But the (local) government can't help us because it is too busy defending its position vis-à-vis Islamabad." Not without adding: "We Muslims believe in fighting, because we've seen that elections give us nothing. There's a religious government in Peshawar, but it can't do anything. In Palestine, Hamas won the elections, and it's boycotted."

For the moment, and in spite of official optimism, the influence of fighters, who already control virtually all of Waziristan, is spreading beyond the tribal zones and winning over the nearby districts. Several "decrees," put out by those called "local Taliban," have already prohibited barbers from trimming men's beards, video stores, and music at weddings. This situation, which is not of a nature to contribute to Afghanistan's stabilization, can only further envenom relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

06 April 2006

Posted by Bulatlat

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