Pak Army fears erosion of public support if Swat offensive persists

August 3rd, 2009 Mingora (Swat, Pakistan), - Beneath the surface of relative calm in the Swat Valley, there is a sense of both fear and hope over whether peace will ever return to the area in the wake of the military offensive against the Taliban. According to a New York Times report, Mingora, the battle-scarred capital city of the Swat Valley, remains tense, and Pakistan's efforts to restore normalcy is being seen as a vital test of the government's resolve to stand up to the Taliban.

July 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Raising questions over the success of the Swat military offensive, US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke has said it is unclear whether the Taliban has really been hit hard in the operation. Talking to media persons after returning from his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan here, Holbrooke said Washington is yet to ascertain whether scores of Taliban insurgents are actually being killed, as claimed by the Pakistan Army, or have they just scattered away only to recoil later.

July 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 31 militants were killed and 28 others, including a Taliban commander, were arrested in separate operations in northwestern Pakistan, according to a media report Monday. According to the Pakistan Army's Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR), 11 militants were killed and 28 others, including the wanted commander identified as Kabir, were arrested during a search operation in Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Geo TV reported.

July 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army said Saturday that 14 Taliban fighters were killed in clashes with security forces in the country's northwestern Swat valley and its adjoining district of Buner. According to an army statement 10 militants died when the troops conducted search operations in four areas of Buner, located some 100 km northwest of Islamabad.

July 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 27 militants were killed in the on-going military operations in Pakistan's restive Swat Valley and two adjoining districts, security officials said Wednesday. The latest killings came as the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke announced an additional $165 million for nearly two million people uprooted by the offensive in Swat and surrounding areas.

July 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - While the Pakistan government has been raising concerns over the expanding Taliban threat, it was the Army which ultimately took the challenge and succeeded in crushing the insurgents to an extent. The success of the military in the Swat offensive is upsetting Pakistan's 'fragile' internal balance of power.

July 16th, 2009 Peshawar, July (ANI): The Pakistan Army has killed wanted militant leader, Abu Laith and 13 other Taliban insurgents in the ongoing Swat offensive. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Laith was killed during a search operation in the Peuchar region of the valley.

June 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has said that the military operation against the Taliban and other extremists in the Malakand and Swat region was launched to bring those people back on track who had deviated from their path due to certain circumstances. General Kayani said the operation has aptly been named 'Rah-e-Rast' which means the 'right track'.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - There are signs that the situation with the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan is moving in a positive direction, US National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair has said. Just back from Pakistan and Afghanistan, Blair told intelligence professionals that support for the military operation solidified after a recent wave of retaliatory bombings by the Taliban.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army would need to stay in the Swat Valley for at least a year after its operation against the Taliban in the region is accomplished, in order to prevent the extremists from resurfacing again, a senior Army official has said. Major General Ijaz Awan, who is commanding the military's Swat offensive, said the army would have to stay in the valley for at least another year so that peace and security could be re-established.

May 14th, 2009 LAHORE - While Pakistan has claimed to have sanitized hundreds of Taliban operatives during the ongoing military operation in the Swat Valley, a US expert has said the offensive has a 'bleak' chance of achieving success and yielding the desired result. Key US strategist, David Kilcullen said that due to Pakistan Army's inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the West in the operation, the success of the Swat military offensive is doubtful.

May 11th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said 700 militants have been killed in the Swat Valley in the last four days, after the army intensified its operation against The Taliban in the troubled region. "The operation will continue until the last Talib.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari leaving no stone unturned in assuring the United States that Islamabad is concerned by the Taliban's expanding writ and that the country's Army is pledged to flush out the extremists, top US officials have raised questions over the Pakistan military offensive. Senior Obama aides are speculative about the success of the military offensive in Pakistan, as the army is ill suited to carry out the kind of counterinsurgency operations needed to end the Taliban fighters' control of Swat, in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

May 6th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Pakistan security forces killed sixty-four militants on Wednesday in northwest Buner and Swat districts. The army said 37 militants were killed in two clashes in the Swat Valley and 27 militants were killed in Buner district.

April 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Taliban stopped a convoy of security forces from entering their stronghold in Swat Valley on Saturday. A News Network International (NNI) news agency report said seven army trucks were stopped by armed Taliban at Qamabr, a small town of Mingora, the main city in the Swat Valley of North West Frontier Province.