Bajaur: When "Peace" Yields War

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Last year I wrote extensively about the Waziristan Accords, in which Pakistan surrendered a large geographic area to forces aligned with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. (See this blog entry written just after the Accords were signed, as well as this Weekly Standard article that I co-wrote with Bill Roggio.) The Waziristan Accords caused attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan to rise dramatically, and provided a safe haven where terrorists could train, communicate, and plot future attacks. Recently the government of Pakistan surrendered another region, Bajaur, to terrorists and their allies. A story that Erick Stakelbeck and I developed for CBN News about the Bajaur Accords aired on Tuesday:

However, despite all the setbacks, Pakistan is still striking deals -- this time with jihadists in the country's Bajaur region. Sources told CBN News this accord is similar to the Waziristan treaty, in which Pakistan turned control of that region over to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. "Bajaur is right by an area where there's been a lot of insurgent activity in Afghanistan. So there's obviously a concern that with this new accord, there will be much more of an increase in attacks against Coalition forces," said CBN News consultant Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. High-level intelligence sources have told CBN News that the Pakistani government made the deal with Faqir Mohamed, a powerful Taliban leader in Bajaur. Mohamed's group sent more than 10,000 troops to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Pilots bombed his home in Bajaur last year to target a top al-Qaeda leader. "Basically, with these accords, he becomes the king of Bajaur. He's a man who is incredibly influential, incredibly powerful there, and basically is the perfect confluence of factors to help al-Qaeda," said Gartenstein-Ross. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf agreed to the Bajaur accord despite increasing White House pressure to crack down on jihadists in the tribal regions. Terrorism expert Walid Phares says that Musharraf, who's survived several assassination attempts by al-Qaeda, thinks appeasing his jihadi opponents will help him hold on to power.

Read the whole story here.

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