Pakistan To Arm The Tribal Militias (Lashkars) Who Fight Taliban

Great, great news! The movement is happening in Pakistan, folks...the same type of movement we saw start in western Iraq as the Awakenings rose up against al Qaeda in Iraq...this time, the Pakistani tribes in the NW section of Pakistan are slowly but surely rising up against the Taliban and the government of Pakistan has decided to help them, by sending them lots and lots of AK-47's and other small arms.

Here's some of the details from the article at Reuters:

Pakistan is planning to supply assault rifles to thousands of tribesmen willing to take up arms against Islamist militants in its northwestern tribal region, officials said on Thursday.
Pakistani officials in Washington said the plan to arm militias known as lashkars would involve supplying AK-47 rifles and other small arms, some purchased from China, to tribesmen in the Bajaur region and other areas of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA.
One Pakistani official estimated that there are about 25,000 militiamen in FATA. Some have already joined the Pakistani military in operations against militant targets.
Pakistan has been under U.S. pressure to expand military operations in the lawless tribal region that contains safe havens for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups.

The Taliban are going to soon find that their little "heaven on earth" is gone....in Pakistan. They have Pakistani military all over them in parts of NW Pakistan, they have predator drones from the U.S. flying overhead with hellfires ready to go, and now, those tribal people of Pakistan that they fucked over and murdered, well....those people are now going to have state of the art weapons.

Yup. The good old days of ambushing U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan and then running back into the solitude and coziness of Pakistan are over for the flea bag Taliban. And that makes me smile.

Pakistan plans to arm militias in tribal lands

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan is planning to supply assault rifles to thousands of tribesmen willing to take up arms against Islamist militants in its northwestern tribal region, officials said on Thursday.
Pakistani officials in Washington said the plan to arm militias known as lashkars would involve supplying AK-47 rifles and other small arms, some purchased from China, to tribesmen in the Bajaur region and other areas of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA.
One Pakistani official estimated that there are about 25,000 militiamen in FATA. Some have already joined the Pakistani military in operations against militant targets.
Pakistan has been under U.S. pressure to expand military operations in the lawless tribal region that contains safe havens for al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups.
The sites are blamed for rising violence in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan, where about 65,000 U.S. and NATO forces are battling an intensifying insurgency.
The strategy of supporting tribal militias to evict militants bears a striking parallel with the Awakening Council movement in Iraq, in which Sunni tribesmen have risen up against al Qaeda and driven militants from their neighborhoods with help from the U.S. military.
But the two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that Washington, which is unpopular in Pakistan, would have no role in developing, funding or implementing the plan.
"This is an initiative of the tribesmen themselves and the new government. The tribesmen are tired of the militants, want them out of their areas and the government is helping," said one of the officials.
Similar to Awakening
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he had no details of the plan. "What's important here is that Pakistan, the Pakistan government, recognizes that they have a challenge with extremists inside their own country and clearly they are looking for a variety of means ... to address it," he said.
But Pentagon officials said the plan was similar to what senior U.S. military officers have advocated for some time. "The concept is welcome," said one senior military official.