Imagine if you will, a nuclear-armed jihadist regime in Islamabad. It’s enough to turn even Hillary Clinton against Sharia rule. An update on this story. “Pakistan troops rush to Taliban-infiltrated area: NATO truck base also attacked; Clinton urges Islamabad to focus on threat,” from MSNBC, April 23 (thanks to DJR):
ISLAMABAD – Gunmen attacked a Pakistani paramilitary force sent to a Taliban-infiltrated district just 60 miles from the capital Thursday, killing a police officer and feeding growing doubts about the government’s peace deal with extremists in the area.
A meeting between Taliban representatives and tribal elders ended with the militants making some concessions but no pledge to withdraw from Buner, where they have established bases since crossing over from their stronghold in the neighboring Swat Valley.
Militants also attacked a NATO truck terminal in the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of the restive North-West Frontier Province, burning vehicles and sending a very visual message of their presence.
Swat’s Taliban appear to be emboldened after their bloody, two-year campaign in the valley led the government to agree to a peace accord that imposes Islamic law in a wide swath of the northwest bordering Afghanistan. […]
Militants have made no secret of their desire to see Islamic law imposed across the country, and as they edge closer to Islamabad, unease about the peace deal is growing in Pakistan and in the West. The U.S. is especially concerned because it considers stability in Pakistan “” and rooting out its militant sanctuaries “” critical to success in the Afghan war.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told American lawmakers in an unusually blunt statement Wednesday that Pakistan’s leaders were “basically abdicating to the Taliban.” On Thursday, however, she said the Pakistani government appeared increasingly aware of the threat. […]
As reports filtered out about Taliban fighters moving into Buner “” that they were patrolling roads, broadcasting radio sermons and ordering barbers to stop shaving beards “” the government sent six platoons from the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary to the district this week. […]
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted no group would be allowed to challenge the authority of the government, but a few lawmakers “” including some who initially backed the peace deal with the Swat Taliban “” said the administration had to do more to contain extremists. […]
No kidding, really?
“If the Taliban continue their advances at the current pace they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad,” added Fazl-ur-Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam, the country’s largest Islamic party. […]
Analysts said Buner is a wake-up call for a Pakistani government that has often seemed weak-willed in dealing with insurgents. But, they said, Islamabad is not in danger now.
“The military is going to be the major impediment” to taking the capital, said Hasan Askari-Rizvi, a leading political analyst. Still, he said, sympathizers in the capital could use the Buner advance as a rallying cry to cause unrest. […]
A Taliban leader who goes by the name “Commander Khalil” said the militants agreed to stop patrolling in Buner, though they would keep armed guards in their vehicles.
“We are here peacefully preaching for Sharia (Islamic law). We don’t want to fight,” Khalil told an Associated Press reporter by phone. […]
According to officials, the Taliban have established a base in the village of Sultanwas and set up positions in the nearby hills. Residents say they have been broadcasting sermons by radio about Islam and warning barbers to stop shaving men’s beards. […]
Not that this has anything to do with Islam.
“I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists,” Clinton told lawmakers in a hearing Wednesday in Washington. But on Thursday she added that she thought Islamabad was beginning to recognize the severity of the threat posed by militants.
On Wednesday, Clinton said the Obama administration is working to convince Pakistan that its traditional focus on India as a threat has to shift to the Islamic extremists.
“Changing paradigms and mindsets is not easy, but I do believe there is an increasing awareness of not just the Pakistani government but the Pakistani people that this insurgency coming closer and closer to major cities does pose such a threat,” the secretary of state said. […]
Changing paradigms and mindsets is indeed not easy. Pakistan as a jihadist, Sharia state might actually awaken some people to the reality of the global jihad — that is, if the world survives long enough.