Pakistan Army Fights Back in the NWFP

A leading Pakistani military officer, Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Tariq Khan, led a press conference Monday 23rd February in which he announced that the army had gained control of one of the three key valleys leading to Afghanistan. Militants hold sway in this region, and managed to blow up an oil tanker Saturday 21st February that was heading for NATO forces in Afghanistan. At the press conference Khan denied reports that 80 American advisers are in Pakistan training military and paramilitary personnel.

The routes through the Kyber pass and other valleys are vital supply routes for NATO allies which is why there are been a lot of US activity in the area, with drone strikes etc. NATO cannot afford to have these blocked. While Pakistan complains in public about its sovereignty being violated, there was a somewhat compromising incident recently when US Senator Diane Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, announced that US Predators 'are flown out of a Pakistani base'

And in the SWAT valley, the kidnapped government official I blogged about has been released - in return for two SWAT Talibanis.