Who knew?--Taliban act like insurgents in Pakistan

NY Times:

For the past month and a half, the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach toward the heartland of the country.

Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.

All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without a major fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say. About two million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.

The reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from the United States, which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.

But the Taliban’s decision to scatter leaves the future of Swat, and Pakistan’s overall stability, under continued threat, military analysts and some politicians say.

The tentative results in Swat also do not bode well for the military’s new push in the far more treacherous terrain of South Waziristan, another insurgent stronghold, where officials have vowed to take on the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, who remains Pakistan’s most wanted man.

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It is the nature of insurgencies that the enemy does not stand and fight against an army with superior force. That is how they live to fight another day. What was remarkable about the Swat campaign is how many did dig in and fight to the finish. If they had all simply run away there would have been no need for 2 million refugees to flee or for the army to take so long to drive them out.

To defeat the insurgents the area cleared must be held by government forces in such numbers that will deny the Taliban's ability to return. The troops will have to be disbursed across the territory so they can intercept Taliban movements to contact. They will need check points and forces to reinforce police. It will take a similar effort in the area where Mehsud is roaming.