Pakistan preparing new offensive in North Waziristan.

[Officer of Engineers]

You won't find me supporting the current government's 'dilly-dallying' over 'negotiations with the TTP'. But, that said, throwing out wild suggestions like 'impose martial law' and/or 'activate the reserves' (without taking into account the sustainability/feasibility of those options) is not something I can support either.

Oh for Pete's akes. The Taliban is throwing everything they've got at you and they're holding you at bay. The Pakistani State is more than capable of out-manning, out-gunning, out-manuevering, out-spend the TTP. The very fact you're throwing out these friggin empty excuses states just how committed you are to this fight.

 

[lemontree]

Oh for Pete's akes. The Taliban is throwing everything they've got at you and they're holding you at bay. The Pakistani State is more than capable of out-manning, out-gunning, out-manuevering, out-spend the TTP. The very fact you're throwing out these friggin empty excuses states just how committed you are to this fight.

Sir, Please dont forget what we learn't about these cleric led insurgencies in the Haqqani thread.
It worked wonders in the anti-Soviet war, and then in the creation of the Taliban and rule over Afghanistan.

Pakistan cannot win this war, till it repeals the zakat ordinance, and destroys every Haqqaniya madarsa in the regions east of the Durand line.
But will they destory the strategic proxies that have served them well against the NATO in Afghanistan and IA in Kashmir? They need them more, now with the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.

 

[Officer of Engineers]

As I stated Captain, the Taliban is willing to win this war. They may not be fully able but they willing. Pakistan is able but not willing. That says a hell of a lot.

 

[Deltacamelately]

The government IS stopping the military from going beyond the isolated retaliatory attacks - the Army's position on this was made clear from the time Kayani became COAS in 2008, that the Civilian government had to buy off on, and own, any large scale military operation. That stance, whether one agrees with it or not, is necessary given the polarization within Pakistan over the Taliban and how to best handle them, and the fact that the TTP propaganda machine has chosen to also latch onto the narrative of the Army 'calling the shots as a Western Slave and undermining Pakistan's Islamic credentials and government'.

When in the history of Pakistan, the PA got stopped by any civilian government, trying to do what the PA thought was in the best interest of that country? Sad, but these are all hollow excuses.

 

[S2]

A.M.'s reading of P.A. policy since Kayani's ascension to COAS is accurate. The P.A. has made itself abundantly clear that it will reflect the political determination of the civilian authorities.

They have no such determination. Thus, neither the military. This is acceptable from their POV insofar as the TTP's high tide was reached in the spring of 2009 and has since receded back into the tribal territories along the afghan border. As there's no immediate existential threat to the survival of the nation, there's no corresponding will/determination to act.

Remember the levels of complaint needed by the west to provoke the Pakistani government into actively defending SWAT/Buner. Not much has changed since. As has been proven elsewhere these days, Pakistan also suffers from a lack of civilian statesmanship able to mobilize public opinion to a general consensus.