Last Friday, a U.S. drone strike targeted and killed Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. Mehsud had had a five million dollar U.S. bounty on his head for his “alleged involvement in the 2009 attack on a U.S. base in Aghanistan.” Concurrently, the Pakistani government has been pursuing peace talks with the Taliban, something the Pakistan’s prime minister says will not be effected by the attack. Ministers have continued to denounce drone attacks, calling them “unacceptable” and moving that they were a usurpation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. They released a statement that announced the following: “Diplomatic efforts will be continued to stop these attacks. Given Pakistani peoples’ resolve and sacrifices in this war against terrorism, it is imcumbent upon the international community to support this endeavor of the government for the accomplishment of peace. The government of Pakistan will not allow any internal or external force to sabotage the dialogue process.”
The story, reported by CNN senior staff writers, goes on to say that on “Monday, Pakistani jihadists distributed a photograph purporting to show Mehsud before his burial and describing him as a martyr, the SITE Intelligence Group said.” According to officials with the Pakistan Taliban, the group has voted to elect Asmatullah Shaheen as its interim leader. According to Azam Tariq (a member of the Pakistan Taliban’s Shura Council), the group will not announce Mehsud’s permanent successor for several days.
What are my thoughts on this? Well, there are so many things wrong with it its hard to know where to begin. Why a sovereign, industrialized, nuclear-capable nation like Pakistan would even consider negotiating with a violently misogynistic, hysterical cult like the Taliban is well beyond the boundaries of reason. Any compromise or settlement they could possibly make with such a group could only damage their credibility as a legitimate state and weaken their viability as a player in the world community of nations. The Taliban have been conducting an insurgency against the Pakistani government, claimed responsibility for a December 2009 suicide bombing at the US Forward Operating Base Chapman in Afghanistan, and for the failed May 2010 attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, to say absolutely nothing of the fact that their elected interim leader, Shaheen, is on Pakistan’s most wanted list. It may not be in Pakistan’s best interest to unilaterally put down the Taliban. It may not even be feasible. It may be that many of Pakistan’s citizen’s support or think they support the Taliban as a viable political movement. It is certainly the case the United States irrevocably changed the nature of what was ostensibly a Pakistani internal affair. Still, to make any sort of concession to the Taliban would be undeniably wrong from a moral and human rights perspective and would set the country definitively and historically against the grain. Pakistani prime minister: Drone strike won't derail Taliban peace talks
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