[Kot Kalay, Pakistan] Militant leader Baitullah Mehsud is not worried about military air strikes aimed at destroying the suspected hideouts of foreign fighters and their local tribal sympathizers and harborers. In fact, he argues that the harder the army hits, the easier it becomes for him to win more public support and even adherents.
Sitting at a secret location in South Waziristan, Baitullah, who leads the single-largest group of gunmen from the Mehsud tribe and had invited some journalists to get his side of the story, told TFT (The Friday Times): “Blind strikes such as the January 16 hit in Zamazola only discredit the army. A single such strike helps the Taliban’s cause much more than a hundred days’ campaign to win the hearts and minds of the people.”
The attack left eight people dead and 10 wounded. The military had used highly sophisticated and expensive laser-guided missiles to hit the target, three houses near the hill forest in the remote Shaktoi area of South Waziristan. However, three out of five missiles failed to explode.
TFT was visiting South Waziristan for the first time after the February 2005 peace deal between the government and Baitullah Mehsud in Sararogha after the Taliban agreed to embed a select group of journalists. It found considerable support for Baitullah in Kot Kalay.
Muhammad Sharif, a 24-year-old medical technician from the area, says there was no development in the area, no real schools, and no prospects for life. Even those joining the forces could not rise beyond the rank of sepoy (private).
“You can’t find more than 15 matriculants in this area,” he said.
“I ask you: Does such a situation not benefit the militants? It does, believe me!” he told TFT while other angry villagers mince no words in condemning President Pervez Musharraf for “killing his own people just for the sake of appeasing the Americans.”
Villagers had gathered in the area after the Baitullah group told them that journalists were visiting the targeted houses at their (group’s) invitation, to judge whether foreign gunmen were present in the area as claimed by the government, and which had, presumably, caused the army to launch the strike. The attack by the army was the first since November 2004 when the peace accord with key commanders of the slain Nek Muhammad-led group was signed.
No villager or any member of the bereaved families conceded that foreigners were hiding in their areas at the time of the air strike, but Sharif admitted that “The strike was the result of suspicion that foreigners may be sheltered here”.
The target included three isolated houses, at a fair distance from the main village. Local villagers told TFT the three houses were being used by wood-collectors. They categorically denied the foreigners were using the houses. However, it did not seem that the villagers were being honest since TFT spotted masked men among the angry crowd, who were moving about as if acting as minders.
Zulfiqar Mehsud, spokesman for the group and a 30-year-old fighter, revealed that the group had up until now “lost 50 fidayeen [suicide bombers]”. Most had carried out missions in Afghanistan, though he did not say how many suicide attacks the group had undertaken within Pakistan.
A day after the strike in Zamazola, Baitullah had vowed to “avenge” it and within days, on January 24, the security forces lost four jawans (infantry fighters) near Mir Ali in what outgoing military spokesman Maj.-Gen. Shaukat Sultan said was a suicide attack.
“The guy walking in front of us wants to be sent on a suicide mission,” Zulfiqar pointed to TFT out a fellow fighter, appearing to be aged between 20 and 25 years.
He did not say how many boys were being trained for suicide missions, but security sources in Peshawar told TFT that militant groups in Pakistan had copied the strategy from the insurgents in Iraq where suicide attacks have taken a very heavy toll in the sectarian war that is now going on in that country.
Baitullah said he was using suicide attacks as a “response” to Pakistani and American air strikes on his hideouts.
“When they hit us, we hit back with the fidayeen,” he said.
Most fighters who TFT saw were very young, and between the ages of 20 and 25. Not all of them come from the seminaries. Quite a few have studied at mainstream schools and colleges, like a third-year student from a government-run college in Miranshah, capital of North Waziristan, who TFT met at the gathering.
“I joined the group to wage jihad against the infidel forces,” said the student who refused to give his name, in the indoctrinated vein in which most of these fighters talk. He said that he would help the group not only in the field, by fighting the infidel – the Americans – but also by using the Internet to counter the propaganda spread by the West.
During the journey to Kot Kalay, the fighters were using satellite and wireless communication system and their strategic routes were well guarded by scouts and snipers sitting atop selective vantage points on the hills.
“Call Inqilabi on the wireless to tell him that we are going through his area, otherwise, we may come under fire from him,” one of the fighters asked the communications person sitting in the back seat of the truck.
TFT asked Zulfiqar, father of one child, how long he thought the fighters could hold out before the US’ deadly air superiority?
“If the US morale is as high as mine, then we have a very long war to fight,” he said, while driving a red 4×4 truck at breakneck speed on a very uneven road. “The Pakistani nation should salute the Taliban for holding back the Americans who want to be here where we are traveling right now,” he added.
“If Bush or Musharraf witnessed the scenes during tashkeel (a process of selection of militants for missions in Afghanistan) they would know that fighting the Taliban is like hitting one’s head against a rock,” Zulfiqar boasted.
Interestingly, while the cost of Taliban’s operations in Afghanistan may be a fraction of what the coalition is spending in trying to bring that country under control, it was obvious to TFT, seeing the militants operate and use the equipment at their disposal, that the activities still cost a lot in operational and logistical terms. Where are the Taliban getting their money?
Former security chief for tribal areas, Brig. (ret) Mehmood Shah, says even the zakat money (obligatory alms money taking from salaries) is enough to meet the militants’ needs. Others disagree and say the Taliban have multiple sources of funding and that large amounts of Arab donations are finding their way into Waziristan.
TFT saw one distribution made by Zulfiqar. It amounted to just less than Rs1 million ($16,500) and he distributed the wads of notes in less than 30 minutes, the money going to various people.
“We spend much money on wounded fighters’ treatment and on helping the bereaved families financially,” he explained.
A fighter who had returned “safe” from several missions across the border shared his fighting experience with TFT saying the Americans “fought poorly in the beginning, but are now becoming good”.
Giving his name as Esmat Dawar, the fighter showed respect for the adversary. His assessment was that the Americans were beginning to understand the ground and the tactics much better. He also said that the Afghan army was “tough to confront” and “fights well.” Of the three adversaries, the Afghans, Pakistan army and the US, he ranked the Afghan army as the best, followed by the Pakistan army and then the Americans.
“The Americans rely heavily on technology and generally lack commitment. The Afghans are born fighters, like us,” he said, adding that air strikes were proving a setback to the Taliban, but felt confident that the fighters, being “fast learners,” had learnt to cope with them.
“After we have engaged the infidel forces and inflicted losses on them, we manage to disperse before the planes arrive,” he said.
Also published in The Friday Times, a Lahore-based political weekly.