Pakistani Politicians Criticize Offensive Against Taliban

"The action is not very fast, not very effective and not very well-oriented," said Lateef Afridi, a top member of the Awami National Party, the dominant political party in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. "People are complaining that such halfhearted measures won't work." Washington Post

Just about everything Pakistan does is for show. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 2 -- Several Pakistani politicians and local media outlets have started to sharply criticize the government's new offensive against Islamist insurgents, as paramilitary troops on Wednesday continued to press operations in the country's northwest.

"The action is not very fast, not very effective and not very well-oriented," said Lateef Afridi, a top member of the Awami National Party, the dominant political party in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. "People are complaining that such halfhearted measures won't work."

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The stated objective of the operation, dubbed "The Right Path" by Pakistani security forces, is ambitious: to blaze a trail through the heart of what is fast becoming Taliban-controlled Pakistan, eradicate insurgent strongholds in tribal areas along the Afghan border, and save Peshawar, a city of 3 million, from falling into the hands of Islamist insurgents.

But only days after the surprise offensive began, it is sharpening divisions between members of Pakistan's newly elected government and highlighting the uneven nature of its strategy against insurgents. In recent weeks, Pakistan had been attempting to broker peace deals in the same region that its forces are now attacking.

Afridi, a lawyer with the provincial Supreme Court bar in Peshawar, was one of several Awami National Party members who has helped broker peace deals with locals tied to the Taliban. He said the paramilitary operation threatens to undermine those deals and does little to address unrest fomented by more powerful Taliban leaders, such as Jalaluddin Haqqani, head of a powerful extremist network based in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

"It won't work unless the government hits the right targets, unless the government strikes at the true leadership of these extremists," Afridi said.

Some Pakistani newspaper editorials have been skeptical if not scathing of the offensive. One, in the English-language daily Dawn, said the effect and scope of the operation are "unclear."

"Is it simply a side issue or part of a larger strategy for establishing the writ of the state wherever it is challenged?" the editorial said. ". . . Indeed, the operation could be deemed a success if the main road to Afghanistan is secured. . . . Still there is no knowing whether such security gains, if they are indeed achieved, can be sustained."

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