Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.
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The Taliban is threatening to take over Pakistan if the government does not stop supporting U.S. attacks in the Islamist-held northwest Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Hakeem Ullah Mehsud, a top assistant to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, said his group forcibly would take over the country if Islamabad continues to support NATO’s operation in the Waziristan tribal area.
He added that the Taliban would not hesitate to take over Peshawar, Hangur and finally the whole of Pakistan.
The strategy of the Pakistani Taliban is to get the Pakistani armed forces to provide aid to them in the Muslim-majority but Indian-controlled Jammu-Kashmir state.
The Taliban has pledged to assist the Pakistani army if it diverts from attacking its strongholds in Waziristan.
Baitullah Mehsud, 30, who previously has led attacks on the Pakistani army for its support of NATO efforts in the Pakistani tribal areas, is said to model himself on Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.
According to reports, Baitullah Mehsud uses Uzbek and Chechen fighters and is said to be close to Uzbek commander Tahir Yuldashev and Waziristan Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah.
Baitullah Mehsud is the head of the Pakistani Taliban and a warlord in South Waziristan.
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Mehsud is widely believed to have been responsible for the assassination Dec. 27, 2007, of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, wife of current Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Prior to Zardari’s election to the presidency, succeeding Pervez Musharraf Sept. 9, his Pakistan Peoples Party stated Mehsud’s involvement in Bhutto’s assassination masked possible official involvement of elements within the Pakistani government.
Indeed, a senior Pakistani military official in recent days has called two senior Taliban leaders “patriots.”
The senior military official, who made the comment in a background interview to hide his identity, was referring to Baitullah Mehsud and Mullah Fazlullah, who heads the Taliban in the Swat district in the Northwest frontier.
In calling them “patriots,” the senior military official has signaled a shift in how the Pakistani military may now view the Pakistan Taliban.
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