This article, by Jason Ditz, was published by antiwar.com. October 15, 2009
A week of high profile attacks by the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have left over 150 people killed across the nation and growing questions over whether the Pakistani government is really up to tackling the group the way it has been promising to.
Two months ago, the government was on the verge of declaring victory over the TTP, trumpeting the death of leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike and claiming to have wiped out the group’s Swat Valley followers.
Now, the nation is conceding that it is in the midst of a guerrilla war with an increasingly belligerent enemy, and instead of launching an offensive against South Waziristan the military is faced with defending its home turf, literally.
The TTP is attacking police stations across the nation, even in Lahore which is far outside their usual tribal area dominion. Marketplaces in the Northwest Frontier Province have become a battlefield. Though Pakistanis are no strangers to internal strife the Pashtun insurgency has largely been restricted to military offensives into Pashtun tribal areas… those days appear over.
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