WHERE THE WAR ENDS:

Where Taliban go to find warm beds and recruits: Many come to Pakistan's sprawling Balochistan Province for R&R and to recruit new blood. (Scott Baldauf and Owais Tohid, 12/11/03, CS Monitor)

While Islamabad says it is doing everything it can to rein in the Taliban movement, a coalition of extremist religious parties controls the provincial government and around 300,000 Afghan refugees still live here. That makes it simple for the resurgent militia to blend in and difficult for the Army to crack down.

"Balochistan has always been, and is still, a second home to the Taliban," says a Pakistan-based Western diplomat. "It has served as second headquarters after Kandahar during the Taliban's rule and now it is providing a new lease on life to its guerrilla warfare against the US and its western allies."

"The more they gain ground in Balochistan, the more their movement will get strengthened," the diplomat adds. "They can easily channel their financial support and regain their ideological support."

Encompassing 43 percent of Pakistan's territory, Balochistan's expanse and location make it an ideal place for the Taliban to regroup. The province is a gateway to southern Afghanistan provinces like Kandahar and the opium-producing province of Helmand.

Sooner or later, it's Western Pakistan.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 10, 2003 07:09 PM