Pakistani Military FINALLY Moves Into Buner To Expel Taliban

Well, it's probably not a day late, dollar short type of scenario but you certainly could ask the Pakistan government what took them so damn long! The Pakistani military moved into Buner district in NW Pakistan today with ground forces and helicopter support and artillery vowing to push the Taliban out of Buner. According to the report here at The Long War Journal, no casualties had yet been reported in the fighting but obviously, the Taliban didn't just storm into the offensive - I don't know if the Taliban had time to rig the roads of Buner with IED's yet - I guess we'll find out. Here's a bit from the article:

The Pakistani government has launched a military operation in the Taliban-controlled district of Buner. The operation is the second in three days in the Malakand Division, a region recently ceded to the Taliban in a controversial peace agreement. The Malakand Division encompasses nearly one-third of the Northwest Frontier Province.
Paramilitary fighters from the Frontier Corps backed by regular Army units, artillery, helicopter gunships, and attack aircraft moved into Buner this afternoon after the government warned the Taliban to "leave Buner or face action."
"The aim of the offensive is to eliminate and expel militants from Buner," Major General Athar Abbas, the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, said during a briefing.

Now, this is the second operation that the government forces have started against the Taliban but this one is a bit more visible in that Buner is closer to the capital of Islamabad. Regarding the earlier operation started a couple of days ago:

The Buner operation is launched just two days after the military went on the offensive in Dir, a district bordering Swat to the north. The Frontier Corps targeted the home town of Sufi Mohammed, the radical pro-Taliban cleric who has served as the intermediary with the government in negotiating the Malakand Accord.

As some of you have guessed, I'm a fan of old sayings. A couple that come to mind here are: 1. You can't teach an old dog new tricks 2. A leopard doesn't change its spots. And with that in mind, I think we'll see the predictable happen with these Pakistani military offensives - they will pummel the Taliban for about three or four days, the Taliban will fall back , some doofus of a Taliban cleric will offer up a "resolution" and the Pakistan government will put covers on their artillery guns and sit down to sign a new ceasefire. It's happened more times than I care to think about. Oh, it might not even be three or four days if the Taliban can manage to capture 20 or 30 Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan launches operation against the Taliban in Buner

The military estimated that more than 500 Taliban fighters "equipped with sophisticated communication system" are present in Buner. The government and military had previously claimed only 100 local Taliban fighters were present in Buner after the Taliban were ordered to withdraw from the district by Swat Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah.
No casualties have been reported in Buner at this time. The Taliban are said to have blown up a bridge and are deploying along strategic roads as well as in fortified positions in the mountains overlooking the valleys.
The Taliban took control of Buner just eight days after advancing into the district. Following a brief clash with the Taliban, the police and local tribal militias ended resistance.
The Buner operation is launched just two days after the military went on the offensive in Dir, a district bordering Swat to the north. The Frontier Corps targeted the home town of Sufi Mohammed, the radical pro-Taliban cleric who has served as the intermediary with the government in negotiating the Malakand Accord. The peace agreement called for the end of military operations and the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, in the districts of Malakand, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Chitral, and Kohistan. Sufi is currently missing; neither the Taliban nor the government has seen or heard from him since April 26.
The military is claiming success in Dir. Abbas said that more than 70 Taliban fighters and 10 security forces personnel have been killed during three days of fighting, while several Taliban base camps were destroyed in artillery bombardments. The government also claimed to be in control of Dir; however, fighting is still ongoing. More than 30,000 of Dir's one million-plus residents have fled the region to avoid the fighting.
Taliban creeps closer to Islamabad and Peshawar despite military operations
The Pakistani military has launched a series of operations in an effort to stem the Taliban push toward the provincial capital of Peshawar and Islamabad, the national capital. While the government and military have claimed success, the operations have failed to prevent the Taliban advance. Today, both Peshawar and Islamabad are under the real threat of being overrun by the Taliban.
The offensives against the Taliban have been limited in both size and scope. There is no coordinated campaign plan between the military and the local and federal governments to address the wider problem of Taliban control in northwestern Pakistan. Instead, the districts and tribal agencies are each treated as discrete problems.
Counterinsurgency is not a consideration; the Pakistani military often sends in the poorly armed and trained Frontier Corps, and the military also levels local towns in air and artillery strikes. The Taliban in neighboring regions provide reinforcements, supplies, and sanctuary during the fighting. If the Pakistani military gains the upper hand, the Taliban slip away to neighboring districts or tribal agencies, and return after government forces leave.
With the exception of the military offensives in Swat, the operations have never lasted more than several weeks.
The fighting has never led to a conclusive outcome. Instead, the military and the government initiate ceasefires and peace agreements just as the fighting intensifies. The Taliban have come out of the fighting in a better position to assert their power, because the government and the military are viewed as weak and indecisive. The local government and populations are demoralized as they view the government to be unwilling and unable to halt the Taliban advance.