Pakistan Plans Key Offensive

Military to Target Taliban Stronghold

Pakistan's military is preparing for what may be one of its most significant offensives in years against a major Taliban stronghold near Afghanistan, according to Pakistani and U.S. officials and local residents.

The operation in and around the tribal area known as South Waziristan will target Taliban fighters from the powerful Mehsud tribe, according to one Pakistani official.

Two Pakistani army brigades are in Wana, a town in South Waziristan, and additional troops have recently moved into the region, according to a Pakistani intelligence official in Wana.

"The military has made all arrangements, and a full-scale operation against the Taliban could begin anytime," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Widespread rumors of an operation have prompted residents to begin fleeing the area. Some residents said they have been told by soldiers to evacuate. These refugees have joined thousands who fled earlier in the year as Pakistani and U.S. aircraft struck Taliban targets in South Waziristan.

In Washington, Pentagon officials have spoken for months of an upcoming offensive in South Waziristan, but the timing and scope of the planned Pakistani military operation remained unclear Friday. The Pentagon offered no official comment on the operation.

Pentagon officials did say, however, that they welcomed more aggressive efforts by Pakistan to wage a sustained counterinsurgency campaign in tribal areas where Taliban fighters have held sway.

"We've been heartened by the increased operational tempo of the Pakistani military in the western regions of their country," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "We've also been very pleased by the fact that they have sustained this pressure after beating back the incursion in the Swat Valley, and they continue to keep pressure on militant groups throughout the region, including in Waziristan," he said.

Maulana Tayyab, an Islamic cleric, said he had departed his home town of Makeen without his belongings after residents were asked to leave the Mehsud tribal areas. The "Mehsud tribesmen were saying that the military asked the people to leave if they had no links to the Taliban," he said.

Muhammad Aslam, a resident who arrived in Dera Ismail Khan from Makeen, said that two days ago he saw military convoys heading toward South Waziristan, adding that he was stuck in traffic for two hours while trying to flee. A source close to the political administration in North Waziristan said the military authorities have also been engaged in negotiations with Pakistani militant leaders Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir, in an attempt to secure their support before the operation began.

Pentagon officials have stressed that U.S. military operations aimed at clearing Taliban insurgents from adjacent border areas in Afghanistan will succeed only if Pakistan takes similar efforts to eliminate safe havens inside its tribal regions.

"That is how we impeded these terrorists from operating and ultimately defeat them: We maintain the pressure from the Pakistani side and from the Afghan side," Morrell said.

Khan reported from Islamabad, Pakistan.