All Factions of the Taliban In North and South Waziristan End Feud, Unite In NW Pakistan

This is not good news folks. One of the few positive things over the past couple of years in the NW Provinces of Pakistan has been that the different factions of the Taliban there have been feuding big time and so, instead of coordinating efforts against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and local Pakistani security forces, they have been killing each other off. Not anymore according to this report from The Long War Journal that states that the two main warring factions have come to an agreement to unite with Baitullah Mehsud who is seen as the overall leader of the Taliban in Pakistan. Nope, not good news at all. Here's some of the dreary news:

Two major Pakistani Taliban groups based in Waziristan that have feuded in the past have put aside differences and formed an alliance.
The North Waziristan faction, led by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, and the South Waziristan faction, led by Mullah Nazir, have agreed to put an end to a local feud with Baitullah Mehsud, the overall leader of the Pakistani Taliban. The three groups have joined forces to prevent outside enemies from dividing the Taliban, the BBC reported.
The three leaders met at an undisclosed location in the Waziristan region. The Taliban warlords agreed to form a 13-man shura, or council. Leadership of the shura would rotate and Baitullah, Nazir, and Bahadar will all sit on the council.
It is unclear if Nazir and Bahadar will join Baitullah Tehrik-e-Taliban, or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Baitullah's group, which operates in all of the tribal areas and throughout the Northwest Frontier Province, has defeated the Pakistani military in multiple battles, forcing the government to cut peace agreements.

Now, I'm not convinced that these clowns will be able to live in harmony and hopefully, they will find some rocky road ahead and go back to their infighting, but it appears that in unifying, they are going to be a much more viable force in planning and executing attacks.

It's getting to the point where the government of Pakistan is simply going to lose the NW Provinces to the Taliban - the government has boxed themselves into a peace agreement with the Taliban in the Swat Valley and now, with these groups uniting, there will be more takeovers of villages and towns and a defense will be laid out that even if the government wanted to disband them, it is going to be damn tough.

In my opinion, there will come a time when the Pakistani government will have no choice but to form a more official alliance with the U.S. and NATO to literally gut this area of Taliban and I'm talking a bombing of the area that will rival Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Because we all know, the Taliban are never happy with a plot of land ...or an area...or a region...they want it all and they WILL start spreading south.

North and South Waziristan Taliban groups form alliance

The prior rivalry between Baitullah on one side and Nazir and Bahadar on the other led to small scale clashes between the groups. Last summer, Nazir and Bahadar formed an alliance to resist Baitullah's expansion in the tribal areas.
Aside from tribal rivalries and disputes over land, the two sides disagreed over the issue of fighting the Pakistani state. Baitullah aims to conquer territory by fighting the military, while Nazir and Bahadar want to focus efforts across the border in Afghanistan. This led some analysts to improperly label the two "pro-government Taliban."
The new alliance will strengthen the Taliban throughout the tribal areas. The differences prevented the groups from pooling their forces to battle Pakistani government forces during past engagements in the Waziristan region.
Baitullah, Nazir, and Bahadar all sponsor al Qaeda and other Pakistani jihadi groups. Their tribal areas are a safe haven for al Qaeda, which numerous camps and safe houses in the region. US Predator strikes have hit al Qaeda and Taliban compounds, safe houses, and camps in all three Taliban leader’s territory.