Pakistan Plans to Attack Taliban Militants

The Wall Street Journal reports

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan appears to be making preparatory moves for an attack on North Waziristan, a tribal region that has become a base for Afghan Taliban militants, amid pressure from the U.S.

Such an invasion, one of the U.S.'s core demands on Pakistan to help stamp out the Taliban insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, could still be months away and limited in scope, if it happens at all. But signs are emerging that Pakistan is moving to prepare the field for some kind of incursion into a region that has become a melting pot of al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

The U.S. has made an attack on Afghan Taliban factions in North Waziristan, especially the deadly Haqqani network, one of its chief goals in Pakistan. U.S. officials have applied greater pressure for action following the killing in May of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs in a raid on his compound in a Pakistani army garrison town only three hours by car from Islamabad.

A senior Pakistani army general last week told tribal leaders in Kurram, a region that borders North Waziristan, that forces were planning an attack on Taliban militants in their region, said tribal leaders who were present.

Such a move in Kurram would strengthen the army's presence on the edge of North Waziristan and help prepare for military action there.

"An action in North Waziristan is now required," said Mahmood Shah, a former army brigadier and defense analyst, who added that an operation in Kurram "could be one of the many preparatory moves the government has to carry out."

Residents of North Waziristan said the army also has been shutting checkpoints on roads across the mountainous region in recent weeks.