Thousands of Pakistanis Flee The Swat Valley As Truce Has Evaporated, Taliban Force Showdown

In as concise terms as I can use, "it's on" in Pakistan's Swat Valley. This article here from Breitbart even states that the Pakistani government has no choice now at this point but to take on the Taliban and it ain't going to be easy. Whatever was left of the so-called peace agreement in the Swat Valley is completely gone and the Taliban are not wasting anytime in taking over government buildings, laying landmines and IED's, and causing thousands of Pakistani villagers to flee the entire valley. This is going to be one ugly showdown, folks...that is if the Pakistani government decides to actually take the area back. Here's some excerpts from the article:

Turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Tuesday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region.
The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach half a million people.

Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs.
"I do not have any destination. I only have an aim—to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell."
Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing.

Late Tuesday, several dozen militants surrounded a police residential compound and an adjoining station in Saidu Sharif after occupying the offices of the police chief and the civil administration, said an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
"The limited forces inside the police building cannot survive for long unless the militants are engaged from outside," he said from inside the station. "We are in war conditions and need reinforcements and supplies."

Okay, so it is looking damn bleak in the Swat Valley as you can see and you can sure bet on one thing - every single available Taliban fighter in the entire area is being moved into the Swat Valley as I type this. I hate to say I told you so but it was many, many months ago that I blogged about the fact that the Pakistani government was in deep shit by even letting the Taliban into Pakistan's NW provinces - and they let them spread out and of course, they started in with all of the peace agreements and so now it has ALL come back to haunt them.

Pakistan's government has a very hard decision ahead of them and that is this - their only chance, in my view, of taking back the Swat Valley is going to be a huge bombardment of the area by air and by artillery...and that is going to mean some large civilian casualties. But what choice do they have other than concede the area to the Taliban? None. In my view.

Thousands flee Pakistan valley as truce crumbles

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) - Turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Tuesday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region.
The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach half a million people.

The developments brought Islamabad's faltering campaign against militancy into sharp focus as President Asif Ali Zardari was preparing to hold talks with President Barack Obama in Washington on how best to counter an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups behind surging violence here and in neighboring Afghanistan. Complicating matters, some of these groups have enjoyed support from Pakistan's intelligence services.
"We need to put the most heavy possible pressure on our friends in Pakistan to join us in the fight against the Taliban and its allies," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in Washington. "We cannot succeed in Afghanistan without Pakistan's support and involvement."
Pakistan has waged several offensives in the border region against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in recent years. Most have ended inconclusively or with peace deals amid public anger over civilian casualties and distaste for taking on fellow Muslims. The army has long focused on the threat posed by longtime rival India and is not used to the demands of guerrilla warfare.
Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs.
"I do not have any destination. I only have an aim—to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell."
Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing.
"Can you hear the explosions? Can you hear the gunshots?" he said, pointing to a part of town where fighting was continuing.
It is far from certain that the Pakistani public has the stomach for a long battle in Swat. Given that the militants have had time to rest and reinforce their positions in the three months since the truce took effect, any operation would involve fierce fighting in an urban setting and almost certainly cause significant civilian casualties and damage to property.
In recent days, however, there have been signs of a turn in mood against the Taliban. Many commentators now say the movement's true nature was exposed by its refusal to go along with the peace deal despite the government's best efforts.