Over 100 Taliban Killed In Pakistani Military Operations, Gen. Petraeus Gives Hell To Pakistani Government

Okay, there's three sections of this article here from Hindustan Times that I want to point out: 1. The section dealing with Taliban casualties this past week from Pakistan military operations in Dir and Buner districts 2. A return to the lunacy of peace talks 3. General David Petraeus' scathing observation of the Pakistani government and military. Here are those sections excerpted:

Taliban Casualties:

Over 100 Taliban fighters have been killed in six days of operations in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the military said Friday, even as the provincial government opened peace talks with a radical cleric and a top US commander served notice that Islamabad had just two weeks left to deal with the militants.
"Some 55-60 militants have been killed in the last 24 hours during the offensive against the Taliban in Dir and Buner," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said at a media briefing here Friday afternoon.
A similar number have been killed since the operation began in Lower Dir Sunday and in Buner Tuesday.
"The operation is continuing successfully", Abbas said, adding the security forces were facing "stiff resistance" but the people of the two districts were "fully supporting" the operation.

Rumors of peace talks:

Meanwhile, the first round of talks between the NWFP government and Taliban-backed radical cleric Sufi Mohammad on restoring peace in the area ended Friday on what was described as a positive note.
"The (military) operation will be halted if peace is restored in the area," NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said after the talks, during which "all the issues" had been discussed "in detail".
Hussain represented the provincial government at the talks, which were held in the Teemargarha headquarters of Lower Dir district.
Sufi Mohammad's spokesman Izzat Khan said the talks were positive and that "efforts would continue to establish peace in the troubled areas".
Speaking to Geo TV, the cleric's son Maulana Rizwanullah described the meeting as "successful" and said that people would soon hear "good news".

General Petraeus views on the Pakistani NW Tribal Areas situation:

On his part, General David Petraeus, who heads the US Central Command, has told US officials that the coming two weeks would be "critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive", Fox News reported.
"The Pakistanis have run out of excuses" and are "finally getting serious" about combating the threat from Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists operating out of the country's northwest, the general said.
Criticising Pakistan's attitude towards fighting the insurgents, Petraeus said "we have heard it all before" that Pakistan was doing its best to eliminate the Taliban threat.
He said that he is looking forward to seeing concrete action by Islamabad in the next two weeks before determining the US' next course of action, which is presently set on propping up the Pakistani government and military with counter-insurgency training and aid.

So there you have it...the operations in review and some valuable insight from Petraeus. And one has to agree 100% with that one statement from Petraeus: "we have heard it all before." Yes, we have heard it before that the military in Pakistan has it all under control and yes, we've heard it all before that there will be peace negotiations that will fix it all. The fact of the matter is this - this may be Pakistan's last chance to finally stop the Taliban surge southward and it requires nothing short of a ruthless gutting of the NW Provinces of Taliban. Yet, for the umteenth time, the government is already investing in peace talks with the Taliban - that's right, the military kills 100 Taliban, has them on their heels, has them scattering about and the government gives in to some plea by some 100 yr old fucked up Taliban cleric to hold peace talks. A peace is announced, Taliban regroup, Taliban defy peace agreement and move southward. It's like watching a continuous loop of a politicians promises to make life better.

Petraeus is spot on in his assessment that he has yet to see the Pakistanis get serious. Will they this time or won't they? It's my guess that we will see a peace agreement announced in the next week and with that, you can kiss Pakistan goodbye.