Pakistan’s Leadership Slowly Awakening to Taliban Threat

Lisa Curtis / April 24, 2009

The Taliban’s agreement to pull out of Buner district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) earlier today, following Pakistan’s deployment of paramilitary troops to the area, demonstrates that the Pakistan military has sent the right signal to the Taliban (at least for now). The Taliban’s occupation of Buner soon after the Pakistani Government conceded the Swat Valley to the militants seems to have raised sufficient alarm among the senior Pakistani Army leadership to coax them into action.

The situation in Pakistan remains highly precarious, however. Unless the civilian and military leadership develop a comprehensive and pro-active plan to counter the growing extremist threat, the Taliban almost certainly will again try to encroach on other areas of the NWFP. (more…)