Small Wars Journal

Pakistan Again Squares Off Against Taliban in Swat

Fri, 05/08/2009 - 3:55pm
Pakistan Again Squares Off Against Taliban in Swat - Matthew Rosenberg, Rehmat Mehsud and Zahid Hussain, Wall Street Journal.

With soldiers again squaring off against Taliban militants in the Swat Valley, Pakistan faces a dual test it has often failed before: fighting a counter-insurgency campaign while caring for those displaced by the conflict.

For the past several days, Pakistan's army and the Taliban have been fighting sporadically along the mountain ridges of Swat after a peace deal collapsed. Pakistani officials say they are determined that the offensive will continue until the military asserts control over the 400-square-mile area.

But even with a fresh infusion of U.S. military technology and training, it is far from clear that the army will do any better this time than last, when it was ground to a halt by the militants and entered a peace that gave control of the valley to the Taliban...

More at The Wall Street Journal.