Pakistan could be overrun by Taliban, warns American military chief as extremists given 'last chance' to retreat

Pakistan is moving steadily closer to being taken over by extremists, a U.S. military chief warned yesterday.

There are indications that the Taliban is taking over territory nearer and nearer to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

'We're certainly moving closer to the tipping point where Pakistan could be overtaken by Islamic extremists,' Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Enlarge   Buner, Pakistan

Moving out: Taliban prepare to pull out of Buner, Pakistan, after seizing the northwestern district earlier in the week

Speaking from Afghanistan, the top U.S. military commander said he believed 'events continue to move in the wrong direction' in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The arrival of an additional 17,000 American combat troops in the near future will stabilise the situation, the Admiral hoped.

'We're going as fast as we can go right now and we want to get it right,' he said.

But he added that the Afghan people 'have to take over security for their nation. That's the only way we're going to be successful.'

taliban pakistan

Exodus: Fighters perch on the top of trucks as a convoy winds through Buner district

The Admiral said also that he agreed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told a House committee earlier this week she believed Pakistan was becoming a 'mortal threat' to global security.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates also urged the leaders of Pakistan to act against the spread of Taliban militancy, saying failure to confront the threat could affect U.S.-Pakistani relations.

In a visit on Thursday to a military installation where Marines are preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, he said some Pakistani leaders recognised the 'existential threat' facing the country's government from the Taliban.

Nuclear flashpoint: The Taliban are surging towards Islamabad after Pakistan conceded the Swat Valley

Nuclear flashpoint: The Taliban are surging towards Islamabad after Pakistan conceded the Swat Valley

Fears for Pakistan's stability heightened in the past week after the Taliban took control of Buner, a valley just 60 miles - less than five hours' drive - from Islamabad.

The Taliban later withdrew its 100 troops from the valley, after the Pakistan Government warned it would force them out.

The retreat order was given by a Taliban commander in the neighbouring Swat valley, where the government has already caved in to militants' demands for the imposition of Islamic law.

Taliban

Warning: Heavily armed militants outside a mosque where tribal elders and the Taliban met in Daggar, Buner's main town

Taliban

Many police and government officials appear to have either fled or are keeping a low profile.

'A platoon of the Frontier Corps has arrived in Buner to help police maintain security in the district,' Arsala Khan, a deputy police superintendent said.

Many in Buner are now too frightened to speak to reporters.

However, one judge said that the militants had entered the district in 'large numbers' and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.

'They are patrolling in Buner, and local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks,' Istiqbal Khan said.

The militants in Buner also are using radio airwaves to broadcast sermons about Islam, and have occupied the homes of some prominent landowners, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation.

He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men's beards and stores to stop selling music and movies.

The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said.

Taliban have also taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi saint known as Pir Baba, he said.

An attack on the NATO truck depot in Peshawar, near the Afghan border, only confirmed the deteriorating security situation.

Buner

Take over: The streets of Sawari village, in Buner, where the Taliban had set up a base after invading the province

The route is part of a critical supply line up through the famed Khyber Pass into Afghanistan.
Islamabad has made a desperate effort to downplay the Taliban advance.

Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistan Army's chief spokesman, insisted the situation in Buner was not as dire as some have portrayed, claiming militants were in control of less than 25 per cent of the district

'We are fully aware of the situation,' Abbas said. 'The other side has been informed to move these people out of this area.'

Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari officially handed Swat and other districts in the Malakand Division to the Taliban last week after two years of clashes between militants and security forces.

The government had hoped that the peace deal would calm the region where hundreds have been killed and up to a third of the one-time tourist haven's 1.5million residents had been displaced.

However, the Taliban leadership now seem intent on pushing the boundaries of their regime.

In a video call from Afghanistan, Major General Michael S. Tucker said that the situation in Swat was a concern.

'We're keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military,' he said.

pakistan taliban

These fighters appear to have bundled their possessions in to plastic bags to make a rapid exit

Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences, said the Taliban may have concluded from the Swat deal that authorities will cave in to violent demands for Islamic law elsewhere.

'They have natural allies in the religious political parties in other parts of the country,' he said.

'They have social and religious networks that have support their suicide attacks and attacks against the security forces.

'It is about the identity of Pakistan and the future direction that Pakistan can take.'

In a recent interview, Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the U.S. from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat — a statement the government condemned.

He said the militants want to see all of Pakistan under Islamic law.

Pakistani officials complain that India and other regional rivals are fomenting trouble in its border regions.

On Wednesday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik accused Afghanistan of offering sanctuary to a separatist leader from Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province.

Malik claimed that Bramdagh Bugti was living in Kabul and that phone taps implicated him in the kidnapping in Baluchistan of an American U.N. worker freed earlier this month.

Speaking in Parliament, Malik also alleged that Baluch rebels were being trained at camps in Afghanistan and implied that they were supported by India and Russia.

American officials acknowledge that such tension and mistrust is hampering efforts to combat the Taliban.

This morning Pakistani officials announced the Taliban had completed their pullback from Buner and troops were deployed in their wake.

Enlarge   Explosive: Dozens of militants overran this NATO terminal where they bombed five trucks

Explosive: Dozens of militants overran this NATO terminal where they bombed five trucks


Enlarge   Explosive: Dozens of militants overran this NATO terminal where they bombed five trucks