Pakistan’s divided Taliban
Despite internal divisions and a bloody army crackdown, the Pakistani Taliban are a long way from being defeated
o Mustafa Qadri
o guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 June 2009 16.00 BST
o Article history
Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban warlord from Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal agency, often described as Emir Baitullah, is widely seen as the movement’s leader in the country. For at least the past two years, Pakistani authorities have sought to attribute most of the terrorism that occurs in this troubled nation to him. According to the North West Frontier Province governor Owais Ahmed Ghani, Baitullah is “the root cause of all the evil”.
Perhaps that is why he was targeted in what was probably the latest and deadliest US drone attack in Pakistan. While the strike failed to kill Mehsud, it did leave the charred remains of anywhere between 40 and 100 people scattered amid the wreckage of a South Waziristan mosque. This has become a dirty war, and neither insurgents nor counterinsurgents have hesitated to attack places of worship.