Pakistan and Taliban Agree to Ceasefire

Maybe President Bush should send over a couple extra billion dollars to Musharraf so he can continue to make idiots of the West...From the National Post

Desperate for a violence-free election on Feb. 18, the Pakistan military has orchestrated a ceasefire with the very Taliban leader they accused of ordering the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The deal was struck on Wednesday, after secret talks between Islamist fighters, tribal elders and Pakistan's military, but Islamabad officials would not confirm the pact.

While members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban group, led by al-Qaeda-linked commander Baitullah Mehsud, proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire, Hamid Nawaz, Pakistan's Interior Minister, insisted the government was simply ready for "dialogue" with the insurgents.

But by yesterday, government officials conceded an indefinite ceasefire was in place in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan along the border with Afghanistan and the Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province.

For the past two months Pakistan's military has been waging a counterinsurgency campaign in the two regions against Taliban sympathizers and al-Qaeda fighters who set up bases in the tribal areas.

How were they able to set up camps and bases in the first place? Was it because of the first truce or is it because of the fact that the Taliban is a Pakistani creation.

The fight appears to have degenerated into a stalemate. Now, the military seem prepared to cut the same sort of deal they made two years ago with Islamist extremists in North Waziristan.

That ceasefire is widely regarded in the West as a total failure, because it allowed the Taliban and al-Qaeda to refocus and regroup to launch a massive offensive against NATO troops, including Canadians, in Afghanistan.

Islamist terrorists also used the ceasefire to extend their control inside Pakistan, enabling them to launch suicide attacks and bombings against government targets and opposition politicians.

If you want the job done right...you have to do it yourself. Send NATO bombers and special ops and start taking out the terrorist's base of operations.

The latest ceasefire is bound to raise questions about the Pakistan government's commitment to eliminating the terrorist and Taliban threat inside its borders.

Pakistan's armed forces and intelligence officials nurtured the Taliban and al-Qaeda for years, before being forced to turn against them by the United States after 9/11.

Since then, Washington has identified Pakistan as an invaluable ally in the war against terror, but has had to push Islamabad to take a harder line against terrorists who have found refuge in northwestern Pakistan.

I know! Lets give Pakistan even more money in aid! That should convince them to destroy the Taliban.