Tribal Leaders Help Pakistan's Military in Fight Against Al Qaeda

WANA, South Waziristan, April 11, 2007 — -- The Pakistan military has taken over a stronghold for al Qaeda-linked militants in the volatile tribal belt, after tribesmen battled the militants, most of them Uzbeks, and drove them out.

The Pakistan military took reporters on a rare trip to South Waziristan today, where military officers described the offensive against the militants as a model for possible future operations against al Qaeda.

"The Uzbeks have been kicked out lock, stock and barrel from the Wana Valley," said regional commander Maj. Gen. Gul Muhammad.

He confirmed reports that about 200 foreign militants and up to 50 tribesmen had died in fierce fighting, which erupted March 19 after a mortar fired by the Uzbeks killed several schoolchildren.

Reporters weren't taken today to Asam Warsak or Shin Warsak, two towns where the majority of the fighting had taken place, with officials saying the area was still being secured.

Pakistani officials would not comment on reports that the tribal militia, although they had ejected the Uzbek fighters from the region, still remained loyal to Taliban forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Officials in Islamabad have tried to paint the fighting in Waziristan as a positive turn of events, and a sign that tribesmen in the restive tribal areas are throwing their support behind the military government of President Pervez Musharraf.

But reports from the area suggest that the fighting between the Uzbeks and the tribesmen has not signaled that the tribesmen want to make peace with Islamabad.

Mullah Nazir, a tribal leader in Asam Warsak, who led the military effort to oust the Uzbeks, is known to be a loyal supporter of the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

"There is no quick fix to this problem," Muhammad said. "They are here for a long haul, and we have to be patient."

Pakistani officials say a long-term approach that combines social development, a hearts and minds program, and military action is the only way to appease the fiercely independent tribal areas and bring them into the fold.

Officials from the United States and NATO, which heads the 26-nation alliance fighting an increasingly bloody Taliban insurgency in next-door Afghanistan, say they are running out of patience.

Pakistani officials also would not speculate on where the Uzbek militants who survived the assault had fled. Locals say as many as 800 escaped into the border area with Afghanistan, or to a wooded area in the neighboring North Waziristan district called Kham Rang. The mountainous area is dotted with caves, which were used by rebels who battled the British empire.

The whereabouts of the Uzbeks' leader, Tahir Yuldashev, is also unknown, locals say. There were reports from Afghanistan that senior Taliban leaders had invited him to join their effort across the border, and vowed to give him and the Uzbeks safe passage.