Idea of Pakistan, Peasant Army, Hearts & Minds

The Pakistan Puzzle
Recent tomes on Pakistan overlook ordinary citizens' conflicting motivations, says our man on the ground.
By Anatol Lieven - TAP

.... The spread of Taliban control remains restricted to only some of the Pashtun areas of the country. Those Taliban regions account for less than 5 percent of Pakistan's total population, and unlike the rest of the country, they have old traditions of religiously inspired revolt. Elsewhere, the real threat is not active, mass support for the Taliban but rather bitter opposition to the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the whole U.S. "war on terror. Both the elites and general public see the Afghan Taliban as fighting a legitimate jihad against the United States. The Pakistani Taliban, as their allies and defenders, therefore receive a measure of sympathy even from people who would never accept Taliban rule over Pakistan as a whole -- unless, God forbid, the United States were to invade Pakistan.

For Pakistanis, a Fight Against Their Own
Confronting Taliban Tests Bonds of Faith And National Heritage
By Griff Witte - WP

.... Unlike in past wars against its archenemy, India, Pakistan is engulfed in a conflict that pits Pakistanis against Pakistanis, Muslims against Muslims. It is a confrontation the army long resisted, and it features an enemy that many Pakistanis would prefer to believe does not exist. For the soldiers who fight, and for the growing number of families forced to bury their sons, the struggle seems to go against their very DNA.

.... Here in Pakistan's "martial belt," a crescent of northern Punjab province that has consistently been the military's most fertile recruiting ground, army families are grappling with the idea that Pakistan's gravest threat lies within, not beyond the eastern border.

.... "It remains a peasant army," said Amir, who grew up in the nearby city of Chakwal and represents this area in Parliament. "Americans should congratulate yourselves on the cheapest cannon fodder you can buy."

Hearts on The Line in Pakistan
By Ahmed Rashid - WP

.... Yet for all the concern about terrorism, the world has been stunningly indifferent to the plight of the more than 2.4 million people who have fled the Swat Valley, where the Pakistani army is for the first time seriously attacking the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

.... Strategically, much is at stake. The fighting in Swat is not just against extremism but for the hearts and minds of future generations. "Pakistani public support for the campaign against the Taliban and help to the [internally displaced] could dissipate fast if international aid is not forthcoming," a senior U.N. official told me. "Moreover, dissatisfied [displaced civilians] could become targets for recruitment by the Taliban and al-Qaeda."