Pakistan PM backtracks on Waziristan remarks

P.M Gilani had to Backtrack on this one , you can't talk tough and say in the headlines that this is going to be a "Big Battle" and then whimper out like this !
Doing so would show the world that he is weak/or maybe a little sympathetic with the Taliban ! I Personally think he sides with the Taliban A little , That's why these Offensives are AntiClimatic !

....Reuters
In televised comments from the eastern city of Lahore, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told reporters the military operation in South Waziristan had concluded and that the army may now shift focus to the Orakzai tribal region where militants are believed to have fled.

But Gilani later said though the army had captured Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, the offensive had not yet ended.

"I may have said it in a different context," he told reporters in the city of Karachi in comments broadcast live by state-run television.

"Our army operation in South Waziristan is going on quite successfully ... and I can't tell any timeline (for its conclusion)."

Anti-militant offensives are handled by Pakistan's powerful army which has been reluctant to set any timeframe for such campaigns. The operation in South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan, was the army's biggest in years involving 30,000 troops.

Pakistan's military says 589 militants and 79 soldiers have been killed in the South Waziristan campaign since it was launched in mid-October. Militants have hit back with bombings that have killed hundreds of people.

Security officials say many of the militants are believed to have fled South Wazirstan to Orakzai, North Waziristan and the Kurram tribal areas.

Troops enter Baitullah’s hometown; 24 militants dead

fierce clashes had taken place and the Taliban were fleeing, leaving behind weapons and ammunition.

The Taliban Fleeing ? It seems they are doing a lot of that ( The little Bitches )
But still , it is hard to figure out what is happening , You would think there would be a lot more resistance , equaling more dead Taliban !
Nice touch blowing up Baitullahs House ! (Insult to Injury ?)

....
ISLAMABAD: Troops combating militants in South Waziristan maintained their advance on Friday and moved into the hometown of the late Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud, and blew up his house.

The town of Makin was one of the main bastions of terrorists in the region.

A security official told Dawn that the success achieved so far had brought troops closer to completion of the first phase of the operation.

He said the link-up of forces in Laddah and Makin would be followed by a major search and clearance operation.

He said a large part of Makin town had been cleared, adding that an important road and junctions of Makin-Laddah-Sararogha and Makin-Ghariom-Sararogha had been blocked.

He also said that fierce clashes had taken place and the Taliban were fleeing, leaving behind weapons and ammunition.

According to ISPR, 24 terrorists were killed and one was captured on Thursday and Friday.

Security forces are consolidating and strengthening their positions around Sararogha and the Shakai– Kaniguram axis around Laddah.

In Bangai Khel, Totai Langar Khel and Kot Langar Khel, large quantities of arms and ammunition were seized and a suspect taken into custody.

Pakistani forces say enter a main Taliban base

I can't get over the fact that Pakistan is saying that they are right in the heart of the Taliban Stronghold , Yet only 33 or so Taliban have been killed in the past couple of days !
Something just is not making sense here !

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers have entered a main Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan near the Afghan border and are searching the area, the military said on Tuesday.

The army launched an offensive on October 17 aimed at rooting out and defeating Pakistani Taliban militants in their South Waziristan bastions.

Soldiers are advancing from three directions toward main bases, including the town of Sararogha, which the army said soldiers had entered.

"A search and clearance operation is on," the army said in a statement.

South Waziristan' rugged landscape of barren mountains and hidden ravines has become a global center of Islamist militancy and many foreign al Qaeda fighters are believed to be based there along with thousands of Pakistani insurgents.

The militants are being squeezed out of their strongholds but have retaliated by stepping up bomb attacks on urban targets.

Earlier Tuesday, the army said 21 militants and a soldier had been killed in South Waziristan over the previous 24 hours.

Pakistan Seals Alliance with Two Taliban Leaders in Fights Against Rival Tribe

Making a deal with the Taliban is never a good Idea , That is why Pakistan may have sealed it's fate of becoming a 100% Taliban controlled country !
This decision May help them out in the short term But , Ultimately there will be a price to pay !

....
The NY Times
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As Pakistani soldiers fought their way into the forbidding heartland of the Mehsud tribal territory on Tuesday against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, they faced the most ferocious fighters in Pakistan, men whose ancestors were legendary for never succumbing to the British.


America Never succumbed to the British Either , We beat the Shit out of them and sent them on their way !... Yet everyone thinks we can be defeated ! Just sayin !


A British governor of Waziristan, Sir Olaf Caroe, once wrote that the Mehsud tribesmen were the toughest opponents because, like wolves, they hunted and fought in packs.
On the fourth day of their offensive, the Pakistani soldiers continued to meet heavy resistance, particularly around the peaks of Kotkai, the hometown of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud. Seven soldiers were killed when militants attacked a checkpoint there, an intelligence official from the area said.

One thing was working in the army’s favor, however. In the time-honored tradition of the mercurial relationships in the tribal areas, the military has sealed alliances with two Taliban commanders of the Waziri tribe, winning deals that they would not attack the army on their southern and eastern flanks.

The two Waziri commanders, Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadar, control territory that surrounds the lands that are home to the rival Mehsuds and that form the Taliban stronghold where the army has begun its push.

It is an expediency that may serve the Pakistani Army, but that could work against American forces in Afghanistan. Both Mr. Nazir and Mr. Bahadar are allied with Sirajuddin Haqqani, who along with his father, Jalaluddin, runs a good part of the insurgency battling American and NATO forces over the border in Afghanistan.

At a news briefing on Monday, the army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, acknowledged the arrangement with the Taliban leaders of the Waziri tribe, saying any military would do all it could to isolate the enemy.


Even open the door for another unseen enemy to take over ?

Battle rages over Pakistan Militant stronghold

I'm still a little skeptical about this offensive by the Pakistani Military , I think they waited to long for a reason , When this offensive is over if they do not kill or detain any of the Taliban big guys , then we Know what they were waiting for .

....

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Heavily armed militants put up a fierce fight on Tuesday to protect a Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan, Pakistan's military said.
Taliban fighters attacked incoming troops in the village of Kotkai, using rocket launchers and heavy anti-aircraft machine guns, said a senior military official.

More than 20 militants and four soldiers died, he said. Three soldiers were wounded.

Kotkai is the hometown of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and Taliban commander Kari Hussain.

In Tuesday's clashes, militants engaged troops in head-on fighting instead of using their usual guerrilla tactics, the senior military official said.

A day earlier, military officials said they had seized control of the area.

Pakistan commandos rescue 39 hostages, three killed

Well that leaves the Taliban a little less to barter with !
What is taking Pakistan so long to finish off the Taliban ?
The longer they put it off the stronger and more hidden the Taliban become !
Maybe they are giving them the chance to surrender , Or escape .

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani commandos stormed an office building on Sunday and rescued 39 people taken hostage by suspected Taliban militants after a brazen attack on the army's headquarters.

Saturday's attack on the tightly guarded army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, next door to the capital, Islamabad, came as the military prepared an offensive against the militants in their stronghold of South Waziristan on the Afghan border.

The strike at the heart of the powerful military called into question government assertions the militants were virtually crippled by recent setbacks. But officials said it only underlined the need to finish them off.

"It has been decided, the civilian leadership has decided ... the operation is imminent," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters in an interview in Singapore.

Three hostages, two commandos and four of the gunmen were killed in the pre-dawn rescue operation, said army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. One wounded gunman was captured and Abbas said he was the ringleader.

"Now there is no terrorist left there. The operation is over," Abbas told Reuters.

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