WHERE THE WAR ENDS:

Tribes recruited in bin Laden hunt: Pakistan gives local clans a last chance to expel Al Qaeda. (Owais Tohid, 3/10/04, CS Monitor)

Hundreds of colorful turbans dot the vista as tribesmen dance to the beat of drums, heralding an agreement to form a 600-strong tribal force to hunt "foreign terrorists" in this remote corner of Pakistan.

The semiautonomous region of Waziristan is the focus of a push by Pakistani forces, in coordination with US troops across the border in Afghanistan, to round up or kill suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas, including Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be in the area.

The new tribal posse represents a last ditch effort by local chiefs to save face and preserve their long-held autonomy by preempting further Pakistani military and paramilitary operations in the region. If successful, the strategy could diffuse the potentially explosive resentment among tribesmen unused to the government's deployments. But giving the lead to a tribal force may subject the increasingly urgent US and Pakistani dragnet to new delays.

"This is the last chance for the tribesmen," says Rehmatullah Wazir, a senior government official in South Waziristan. "The tribal elders pleaded with us to give them an opportunity. And we have told them to produce results within the next few days, otherwise be ready to face consequences."

In exchange, the tribesmen are demanding that the government release arrested elders unconditionally, as well as expel thousands of Afghan refugee families. Chiefs say the refugees are a root cause of the problem as "foreign terrorists take refuge with them."

The jirga, or tribal gathering, will continue in the coming days after elders said they needed more time for further consultations with tribesmen living along the border with Afghanistan before the final formation of the lashkar, or armed force of tribal volunteers.

"We want to act within days, but the process takes time because according to tribal traditions we need to consult everybody, and that is a big challenge," says tribal elder Malik Khadeen.

Break out the buzkashi ponies...

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 9, 2004 7:54 PM