re: #5 Dustyvet

The Taliban surrounded a military convoy as it attempted to enter Mingora, the administrative seat of Swat. The Taliban surrounded the convoy “from all sides,” Dawn reported, and forced the military forces to retreat. The military “warned that if such a situation developed again, the armed forces would not hesitate to use force.”

“We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.”
- Attributed to Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, USMC

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of
us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”
- Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, USMC

The main thing it seems the Pakistani military / government seems to lack is the will to execute the plan. They threaten, they warn….but do they have the will to execute? I have my doubts based on their past performance….and I am thinking that this is a defacto civil war.