NEFA Foundation Series - "The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan: The Bajaur Case"
By Evan Kohlmann
The NEFA Foundation has released the first installment of a three part report by NEFA Senior Investigator Claudio Franco titled "The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan: The Bajaur Case." The NEFA Foundation has closely followed the evolution of the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan’s west and recent developments in the region, and the result is a series of reports aimed at covering the situation in the field. The first part of this comprehensive effort to put into context the Bajaur case covers the origins of the Islamist insurgency in the agency and the emergence of a Taliban-inspired movement strongly influenced by the TNSM experience in the Malakand Division. Part one of this series also provides an analytical outline of the weight of the tribal factor among Taliban insurgents and discusses the peculiarity of the Bajaur case in the context of the wider Taliban insurgency in the FATAs. Finally, this report focuses on the change of approach by the Pakistani Army in Bajaur, a shift which prepared the ground for the Swat offensive and for the ongoing advance towards Baitullah Mehsud's heartlands in Waziristan. This report is based on primary research carried out by the NEFA Foundation team between April 2008 and April 2009. The series will continue with reports on Swat and Waziristan, following closely the advance of the Pakistani Army towards the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan bastions in South Waziristan.
The first installment of Claudio's series is now available on the NEFA Foundation website.
