The Taliban has been actively targeting the disparate tribal groups that have been formed in Pakistan’s northwest to oppose the expansion of the extremists. The Taliban has been effective at destroying these groups by targeting leadership with suicide attacks and kidnappings, and in some cases with military assaults. Two days ago, the Taliban destroyed what many people believed to be the most effective tribal opposition force in the settled district of Swat, where fighting has been raging for well over a year. The Taliban killed Pir Samiullah, the leader of tribal opposition, along with eight members of his group, and kidnapped more than forty others. To humiliate and intimidate any remaining opposition, the Taliban publically beheaded two of Samiullah’s lieutenants. And to further add insult to injury, they dug up Samiullah’s corpse and hung it in the village for his tribe to see. In November of 2007, I warned in a TWS online article that these tribal groups are easy prey for the Taliban if the Pakistani military did not provide security and logistical support. The Awakening in Iraq would have failed without the backing of U.S. and Iraqi troops. Al Qaeda in Iraq struck hard at the Awakening in early 2007, and nearly caused the nascent group to collapse, despite outside support. The fate of Samiullah’s tribe awaits others in Pakistan if the military and government do not provide the needed support. The United States is currently considering raising tribal militias inside Afghanistan to counter the spread of the resurgent Taliban. Unless U.S. and NATO forces provide the needed security and support, these tribal forces may meet the same fate as those in Pakistan’s northwest.
