Pakistani Troops Flee Upon Taliban Threat

UPDATE: The AP has apparently pulled this story off their wire service - not sure if it is a dispute whether the forces fled or if this was just a fabrication. I will leave the story here for the time being but have removed the AP link since it has been pulled.


Just one day after the Taliban and local jihadists embarassed Pakistani Troops by routing them at a fort in which over 7 Pakistani troops were killed and the Taliban took over the fort, there's an intelligence report out that after the Taliban issued a threat to attack a guard post, the Pakistani troops laid down their weapons and fled.
This is the kind of domino effect that could be very damaging to the Pakistani government as not only does the defeatist attitude of some of the troops spread, but the confidence of the Taliban can only soar.
The coalition and NATO troops in Afghanistan have proven one thing over the years and that is you cannot let down on the Taliban, let alone surrender to them. They are relentless if they smell blood.

Jan 17, 7:40 AM EST
Official: Pakistani Troops Abandon Post
By SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani troops abandoned an outpost near the border with Afghanistan on Thursday after receiving threats from Islamic militants who overran a nearby fort a day earlier, according to an intelligence official and a militant spokesman.
However, an army spokesman denied the outpost at Saklatoi in South Waziristan had been abandoned. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the contradictory claims.
On Wednesday, militants overran the nearby Sararogha Fort in a battle that left seven of its troops dead and a number of others missing. The army initially denied the British-era had been overrun, but later acknowledged it.
The defeat was seen as a major embarrassment to the government of President Pervez Musharraf, a major U.S. ally in the war against Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan.
An intelligence officer in the area said the paramilitary troops abandoned the roadside post in Saklatoi early Thursday without a fight after the militants warned them to leave or face an attack.
The officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the troops had reached the military base in the nearby town of Jandola.
Maulvi Mohammed Umar, a purported militant spokesman, said Islamic fighters had seized the post after troops based there laid down arms and left.
About 500 militants surrounded the fort early Thursday, after which the 60 defenders voluntarily laid down their weapons, Maulvi Omar said. "We released them under the spirit of Islam," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"The Taliban have now hoisted their white flag on the fort," he said.
A resident in Jandola said the troops had abandoned the fort, citing accounts from other tribesmen who had passed by the fort and seen it. He requested anonymity because he feared retribution from militants or the government.
The post lies in the Mehsud area of South Waziristan where fighters loyal to Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud are active.