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Pakistani Army Secures Release of Hostages; US to Pressure for Action in FATA

Pakistani Army Secures Release of Hostages; US to Pressure for Action in FATA

Juan Cole 06/03/2009

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The Taliban had kidnapped around 350 students and teachers from a school in the Bannu Frontier Region on Monday. According to some reports, the Pakistani military has now rescued all but 37 of them. This kidnapping is the sort of behavior that is turning the public against the Taliban.

The Pakistani military says that it is continuing its campaign against the Taliban in Malakand Division, killing 4 fighters on Tuesday at Dir.

Tony Karon asks if the Pakistani military’s campaign against the Taliban will have much long-term effect. The Taliban appear to have melted away, guerrilla style, in large numbers. The Pakistani military has fought the Taliban in Swat before, and they’ve come back each time, afterward.

A Pakistani judge has ordered the release of Hafiz Saeed, a militant thought to be close to the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, citing lack of concrete evidence. India protested that Pakistan seemed uninterested in fighting terrorism.

Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal indicated to the US congress Tuesday that Pakistani military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas abutting Afghanistan will bekey if the insurgency

Aljazeera English reports on the challenge facing the North-West Frontier Province’s Frontier Police as they confront the Taliban.

Aljazeera English’s Riz Khan interviews two experts on the campaign against the Pakistani Taliban.

Aljazeera presents a video report on the Taliban bombing of security offices in Lahore last week:

End/ (Not Continued)

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About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



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The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


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