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Pakistan Opens Offensive in a Militant Stronghold




ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan moved large contingents of its troops into the militant stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday, the army said, beginning a long-anticipated ground offensive against militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban in treacherous terrain that has overwhelmed the army in the past.

The operation is the most ambitious by the Pakistani Army against the militants, who have unleashed a torrent of attacks against top security installations in the last 10 days in anticipation of the assault. The militants’ targets included the army headquarters where planning for the new offensive has been underway for four months.

The United States has been pressing the army to move ahead with the campaign in South Waziristan, arguing that it is vital for Pakistan to show resolve against the Qaeda-fortified Pakistani Taliban, which now embraces a vast and dedicated network of militant groups arrayed against the state, including some nurtured by Pakistan to fight India.

The officials said the fighting there would probably not help the American effort in Afghanistan to a great extent since the Taliban stronghold within South Waziristan is not along the border with Afghanistan.

The front in South Waziristan was the fourth operation by the army against the Taliban in a year, and the campaigns in the less remote parts of the country’s tribal areas have shown how hard guerrilla tactics have proved for an army trained in conventional warfare against its archenemy, India.

In Bajaur and Mohmand, two tribal areas close to the provincial capital of Peshawar and far less mountainous than South Waziristan, the army has been forced to launch repeated air attacks against persistent Taliban attacks, even though much of the area was declared cleared of militants almost a year ago. Civilians who fled Bajaur and Mohmand have been unable to return, and towns flattened by the army have remained in tatters.

Even in the Swat Valley, where the military was able to make most cities safe enough for residents to return, the army was unable to knock out the leadership.

In Washington, senior American military officials were monitoring the long-awaited offensive closely, with some top officers expressing skepticism about how extensive a ground campaign the Pakistani Army would actually carry out.

“This is going to be much tougher than their offensives in Swat and Bajaur this year,” said one top American officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We just don’t know how committed the army will be.”

Precise information about the start of the assault Saturday was impossible to verify immediately. No reporters are traveling with the troops, and phones in Wana, the administrative capital of South Waziristan, were not answered Saturday.

But it was clear that the military faced a potent, highly armed enemy that has been preparing for months, bringing in reinforcements from across Pakistan’s tribal region, and diverting Taliban from Afghanistan.