US Shifting Its Gaze in Pakistan?

rewardsforjustice.net

Three suspected U.S. missile strikes hit Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal regions from late Tuesday through Wednesday.  Pakistani officials say the attacks killed at least 18 militants.

The first strike targeted a Pakistani Taliban commander’s house in South Waziristan.  The other two hit suspected Afghan Taliban locations in North Waziristan.

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What’s the difference between the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban?  First of all, they are organizationally distinct from each other.  But most importantly, analysts say the Afghan Taliban only fights in Afghanistan, while its Pakistani version is believed to only operate in Pakistan against the state.  Some analysts use this reasoning to say that Pakistan gives the Afghan Taliban a free pass.

This leads us to U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson’s recent comments about the United States shifting its gaze to Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan.  She told The Washington Post that:

“In the past, we focused on al-Qaida because they were a threat to us.  The Quetta Shura mattered less to us because we had no troops in the region.  Now our troops are there on the other side of the border, and the Quetta Shura is high on Washington’s list.”

U.S. officials believe the Quetta Shura is a council of exiled Afghan Taliban leaders headed by Mohammad Omar and based in the Pakistani city of Quetta (a charge Pakistan and even the Afghan Taliban deny).  The troops Patterson is referring to are the coalition forces stationed across the border in Taliban-controlled southern Afghanistan.

All the local papers led with this interview today.  Whether or not the United States is actually planning to launch drone attacks in Baluchistan (or even a full-scale ground invasion), this is not helping to dissuade the Pakistani people from their anti-America mindset.  Especially after many Pakistanis view U.S. missile attacks in the northwest as an affront to their country’s sovereignty.

Also, Baluchistan is a powder keg already with fuel shortages and a strong desire to secede from the federal government.  Just one U.S. missile could be the spark that sets off a massive chain reaction.