Pakistan Fighting Raises Stakes in War on Terror
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187364,00.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A week of unprecedented urban fighting
in the wild tribal belt of North Waziristan has left scores dead
and forced thousands to flee their homes, raising the stakes in
Pakistan's war on Islamic militancy along the Afghan border.
Growing lawlessness in Pakistan's tribal regions
could provide more cover for militants launching
cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, where increasing
violence has fueled fears of a Taliban resurgence
four years after the U.S.-led coalition ousted the
hardline militia from power.
The situation is a major headache for Pakistan's
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has staked much
on his campaign to rid the country's semiautonomous
tribal regions of foreign militants. His efforts have
left him facing sharp criticism at home from those who
brand him an American puppet.
The Pakistani military leader raised the stakes shortly
before Bush's visit, launching an air and ground strike
March 1 on a suspected Al Qaeda camp in Saidgi village
in North Waziristan. The government claimed the attack
killed 45 people, including a Chechen militant leader.
Militants retaliated by seizing government buildings and
attacking security forces in the nearby town of Miran Shah.
The army bombarded militant positions with artillery and
helicopter gunships, forcing many of Miran Shah's 50,000
people to flee.
It is a dangerous escalation in Musharraf's anti-terror campaign,
with fighting spilling out of tribal villages and into the region's
remote and dusty urban centers for the first time.
A second diplomat compared the situation in Waziristan
to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, where the Taliban militia
were welcomed by many as saviors from rampant crime and
insecurity after years of civil war.
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Bush the cheerleader.
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