In the last 24 hours, Pakistan has killed about 80 Islamic terrorists. The deaths of these thugs came in a series of attacks that are a response to the killing of over 100 children at a school in northwest Pakistan a few days ago. It may be that the Taliban have managed to achieve what no one else could: maybe Pakistan has actually joined the fight against the terrorists.
Over the last fourteen years, Pakistan has vacillated in joining the fight. At times, the Pakistanis have seemed to be fighting the Islamists. At other times, the Pakistanis have seemed like allies of al Qaeda. (Remember how Pakistan imprisoned the doctor who helped the CIA find bin Laden?) In recent months, the Pakistani army has been making a push in Waziristan to oust the terrorists, but it has been a sporadic effort at best. Supposedly, the Taliban attack on the school children and their teachers was in retaliation for that army effort. The horror of that attack, however, was so great that people across Pakistan started clamoring for a forceful response to the terrorists. That brought today's news.
It is worth noting that the attack on the school violated a basic rule of Pashtun society: do not attack women and children. (Pashtuns are the people who inhabit much of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.) In fact, the attack on the school was condemned by the Afghani Taliban for just that reason. The anger the attack awakened in Pakistan is very real.
Hopefully, the groups in the Pakistani government who have allied themselves with the terrorists will not be able to switch the direction that the armed forces have taken. If that proves true, then the Taliban attack on that school may well be a turning point in the war on terror in South Asia.
Over the last fourteen years, Pakistan has vacillated in joining the fight. At times, the Pakistanis have seemed to be fighting the Islamists. At other times, the Pakistanis have seemed like allies of al Qaeda. (Remember how Pakistan imprisoned the doctor who helped the CIA find bin Laden?) In recent months, the Pakistani army has been making a push in Waziristan to oust the terrorists, but it has been a sporadic effort at best. Supposedly, the Taliban attack on the school children and their teachers was in retaliation for that army effort. The horror of that attack, however, was so great that people across Pakistan started clamoring for a forceful response to the terrorists. That brought today's news.
It is worth noting that the attack on the school violated a basic rule of Pashtun society: do not attack women and children. (Pashtuns are the people who inhabit much of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.) In fact, the attack on the school was condemned by the Afghani Taliban for just that reason. The anger the attack awakened in Pakistan is very real.
Hopefully, the groups in the Pakistani government who have allied themselves with the terrorists will not be able to switch the direction that the armed forces have taken. If that proves true, then the Taliban attack on that school may well be a turning point in the war on terror in South Asia.
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