Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The tangle of religion and tribal loyalties

Spreads fighting into Pakistan. Pakistan is having to show Cheney some sort of action against al-Qaeda and this is what happens:
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Local and foreign militants fought a gunbattle in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 46 dead, officials said Tuesday, the second clash this month in an area where the government is urging tribesmen to move against al-Qaida-linked fighters.
[snip]

At least 46 people died in the fighting between militants and tribesmen on Monday and Tuesday, the military official said without elaborating.

The two officials, speaking in Islamabad, said the clash was between pro-government tribesmen and foreign militants. However, a local intelligence official said the fighting was part of a feud among rival militant groups.

[snip]

Pakistan's government, an ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, has long urged tribesmen to expel Central Asia and Arab militants and faces fresh U.S. concern that al-Qaida is regrouping in an area also viewed as a haven for Taliban fighters operating in neighboring Afghanistan.

However, the local intelligence official said the latest clash was not a simple conflict between pro- and anti-government forces in South Waziristan.

He said the fighting broke Monday over the killing of an unidentified Arab with suspected links to al-Qaida, who was an ally of local tribesmen led by a pro-Taliban leader called Maulvi Nazir. The Arab's body was found on the outskirts of Wana.

The local militants blamed the death on the Uzbeks, triggering a gunbattle between the two groups in Kalosha, a village west of Wana, he said. Some 13 Uzbeks and seven local tribesmen were killed in the fighting, and 35 others were wounded, he said.

And we send in our troops to deal with this ancient emnity in Afghanistan and Iraq all the time, without speaking the language or understanding the culture. What do you think will happen?

An wise old Afghani man tells people to keep on killing, at least until that nice president Mr. Bush is out of office and safely far far away:

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