Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Pakistan Front Finally Begins?

Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi told Dawn News that Bhutto was rushed from the area under emergency plans prepared ahead of her return.


The specially-designed truck ferrying her in Karachi apparently saved her life.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda threatened to kill her if she returned. She has openly supported the American-led war on terror, and has even suggested that the Americans cross the border into Waziristan to assist Pakistan in wiping out the Islamists. They know that her return and pending alliance with Pervez Musharraf puts them at a strong disadvantage in Pakistan, where they had hoped to prevail politically.

Instead, Musharraf appears ready to declare total war on the Islamists, according to the normally reliable Asia Times (via Rick Moran):

An all-out battle for control of Pakistan's restive North and South Waziristan is about to commence between the Pakistani military and the Taliban and al-Qaeda adherents who have made these tribal areas their own.