Saturday, January 26, 2008

Spreading of Afgan Violence Into Pakistan

In the New York Times for Friday, January 18th, it contained an article about the spread of violence from the Taliban and Al Qaeda into Pakistan. I thought this was particularly an interesting article because of the change of strategy of many of the Taliban. Obviously the Taliban have an ultimate goal of regaining control of Afghanistan, but many of them are taking refuge in parts of Pakistan. In the town of Peshawar they are especially having difficulties with the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents. There appears to be an attempt to overtake the town by the insurgents and according to many involved in the fight, the insurgents are doing quite well. The people are starting to lose their faith in the government and the police fear for their safety. It appears that the insurgents could very well take this territory for their own. I thought that was kind of interesting because I was not aware of too many areas where the insurgents really held land other than small tribal areas outside of this town. It would be interesting to see how the fight evolves from there. I also wonder, what really would be the significance and result if the insurgents did take a town like Peshawar? Especially since Pakistan is not a region that American forces have been fighting the insurgents.

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