This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Pakistan’s military attack on Taliban produces little besides chaos
- Israeli police hold six suspects in the murder of Palestinian teen
- Israeli airstrikes kill seven Gaza gunmen
Pakistan’s military attack on Taliban produces little besides chaos
The repercussions of the June 8-9 terrorist attack on the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan are still being felt in the form of a continuing militaryoperation to “clean out” the Taliban’s hideouts and weapons storesfrom North Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal area. The airport attackseemed finally to focus the minds of Pakistan’s government so thatafter years of Taliban bombing of schools, mosques, and markets,something was finally going to be done.
Investigations following the airport attack revealed that many ofthe perpetrators were Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan(IMU), a terror group with international ambitions that we’ve writtenabout from time to time. The heavy IMU involvement in the Karachiairport attack indicates that the IMU is experiencing a resurgence instrength and capacity.
As of Saturday, Pakistan’s military is claiming to have killed 386militants, including dozens of Uzbeks, in the North Waziristanoperation.
This has not generated much excitement among the Pakistani public, whoare more concerned that the military operation is going to blow backin the form of multiple revenge terrorist attacks across the country.
Some 600,000 civilians have fled their homes in North Waziristan, manyrunning across the border to Afghanistan and straining resources there,or else traveling north to the town of Bannu. Bannu’s limited civicservices were largely unable to cater to the needs of its estimated700,000 population, but it is now required to cope with the influx ofalmost 500,000 internally displaced persons as well as their more than100,000 cattle.
There are numerous reports that thousands of militants figured outthat this military operation was coming and fled the area before itstarted. The figure of 386 killed seems small compared to the thousands whohave fled.
We’re even seeing news stories about militants running tobarber shops to get their hair and beards trimmed so that they’ll looklike “ordinary people,” rather than murderers.
Other stories reveal that these hard core militants who demand thateveryone else follow austere Sharia law, avoiding anything from theWest, don’t practice what they preach. They extort money from poorcivilians and use it to buy French and Turkish perfumes, body sprays, and soaps.
The Pakistani military has been helpless against the Taliban for years, andthere’s no reason to assume that things have changed much.Furthermore, some of the Taliban groups are actually funded byPakistani agencies, to have them at the ready for a future war withIndia, possibly in Kashmir. So most Pakistanis appear to be cynicalabout the attempt to “clean out” the Taliban and are more worriedabout how the Taliban are going to get revenge than anything else.The National (UAE) and The News (Pakistan) and Arab News and AFP
Israeli police hold six suspects in the murder of Palestinian teen
Israeli officials are hoping that the swift action by police inidentifying the killers of the Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeirwithin four days of his murder will cool offthe tension between Israelis and Palestinians. Six young Jewish maleswere arrested on Sunday on suspicion of having perpetrated the crime.
Most Israelis are sickened and disgusted by the lynching, but fromreports I’ve read I get the impression that there is sizable minorityof Israelis, probably mostly in younger generations, who consider themurder to be deserved retribution and justice in retaliation for the murder of three kidnapped Israeli teens. There has been asmall but growing Israeli anti-Palestinian terrorist movement for anumber of years, but the murder of Khdeir is an exception for itsbrutality. The worst case scenario for Israel is the realization of atribal and communal war waged by hatred and revenge on both sides,spiraling out of control. AP and Jerusalem Post
Israeli airstrikes kill seven Gaza gunmen
Israel launched a series of air strikes on Gaza early on Monday inresponse to repeated rocket fire on southern Israel, and Hamas saidthat seven of its gunmen were killed. Israeli military authoritiesconfirmed the strikes, saying they “responded to rocket attacksagainst southern Israel,” targeting nine “terror” sites and concealedrocket launchers. They said the attacks had made “direct hits.”
The rocket attacks from Gaza have split the Israeli cabinet, accordingto reports. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is advocating acautious approach in order to avoid further inflaming the situation,while several ministers, led by foreign minister Avigdor Liberman,criticized Netanyahu for the tepid response to rocket fire from Gaza.Reuters and Jerusalem Post
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Pakistan, Taliban, North Waziristan,Karachi, Jinnah International Airport,Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, IMU, Bannu, Afghanistan,Israel, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, Gaza Hamas,Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Liberman
Permanent web link to this article
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.