Yesterday Pakistani police detained a New Zealander as he attempted to enter South Waziristan. He was captured in Tank, a district that borders South Waziristan, the center of gravity for the Taliban and one of al Qaeda’s primary havens.
Unless Mr. Taylor is an over-eager journalist, the likelihood he was attempting to join up with either the Taliban or al Qaeda. The latter is actively looking for recruits with passports that will allow them to more easily travel throughout the West. The U.S. air campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas is aimed at breaking up these networks. In one of the 30 plus strikes launched last year, two men holding Canadian passports were killed in an attack on an al Qaeda camp in South Waziristan. Mr. Taylor isn’t the first westerner captured while attempting to enter Pakistan. In October 2008, Pakistani police arrested Juddi Kenan, a U.S. citizen, as he attempted to enter Mohmand, another Taliban stronghold in the tribal areas. Kenan claimed he was a student at a community college in Florida and wanted to enter the tribal region to see a friend. Pakistani intelligence released Kenan, and little has been reported about him since.
