The Pakistani military continues to underreport its casualties in the tribal areas and the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. The latest misrepresentation occurred in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, which, along with other tribal agencies, the government has ceded to the Taliban. On Wednesday, the Pakistani military claimed six soldiers were killed and 20 wounded after an ambush near Mir Ali. But Dawn reports the results of the ambush and other attacks in the tribal agency resulted in 15 soldiers killed and 38 wounded. The U.S. military has yet to take such casualties during a single day of combat in Iraq.
While the Pakistani military is showcasing its offensive against Maulana Fazlullah’s local Taliban in Swat (which the military has failed to fully secure after nearly two months of combat operations), the military was roundly defeated in a series of intense battles in North and neighboring South Waziristan in September and October. The Taliban fought the Pakistani military to a standstill, while hundreds of Pakistani paramilitary and regular soldiers were captured and scores killed during the bloody battles. In South Waziristan, the Pakistani government caved to the demands of Taliban chieftain Baitullah Mehsud. Twenty-five senior Taliban leaders were released, including Afghan Taliban commanders such as Mullah Obaidullah and Amir Khan Haqqani. The government also reinstated the 2005 Sara Rogha accord, which gave the Taliban legal control over the agency which they commanded militarily. The Pakistani military may be touting its limited success against the B team of Fazlullah’s Taliban in Swat, but the A teams in Bajuar, North and South Waziristan, and throughout the tribal agencies and several settled districts in the Northwest Frontier Province remain unchallenged.
