Investor's Business Daily, July 6th, 2007
War On Terror: The Talibanization of tribal Pakistan demands a military solution. Not from Islamabad, but Washington. Not via coalition-building, but unilaterally. Not later, now -- before it's too late.
Last September, on the orders of Pakistan's president, Pakistani forces withdrew from the tribal area in North Waziristan in an ill-advised amnesty deal with local militants. Since then, both North and South Waziristan have come under Taliban control, creating a dangerous new sanctuary for al-Qaida.
Taliban leaders there -- including Mullah Nazir, who says he wouldn't hesitate to shelter Osama bin Laden -- have seceded from Pakistan, declaring the territory a separate nation. They call it the "Islamic Emirate of Waziristan."
Sharia, or hard-core Islamist, courts are operating in the capitals of both North and South Waziristan. And several terror-training camps are active, recruiting and preparing young Muslim men by the hundreds for suicide-bombing missions.
The government's removal of troops from border checkpoints has allowed al-Qaida to attract fresh Arab and Western recruits into its training camps. They're being trained to return to their homes or be sent to hide in western countries to plot attacks. Recent intelligence shows they've been deployed to hit targets in the U.K., Australia and U.S.
This is a recreation of the environment that existed in Afghanistan under the Taliban -- one that, then as now, includes recruiting and training foreign jihadists and financing and planning terrorist operations. The region has become a terrorist factory operating in plain sight, and it cannot stand.
Waziristan poses not only a direct threat to America, but also to our troops next door along with the freely elected new Afghan government they're helping protect.
"Terror unanswered cannot only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments," President Bush said after 9/11. "And you know what? We're not going to allow it."
But for the most part we have allowed it. And we continue to do so. We won't let U.S. troops cross the border into Pakistan, even when they're attacked, leaving it up to Pakistan's military to do our fighting for us. Even if Islamabad wanted to redeploy troops to Waziristan, it would be too distracted by growing political turmoil to marshal an effective campaign.
President Pervez Musharraf, who grabbed power in a military coup, is under pressure to step down as head of the army. He's battling with both the courts and clerics. On Friday, he escaped another apparent attempt on his life.
Musharraf's commitment to cracking down on al-Qaida was always in question. Now he's losing his grip on power. We can no longer count on him.
On Sept. 20, 2001, Bush vowed: "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans."
He also said: "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
The region known as the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan is clearly with the terrorists, and against us. It's a rogue country unto itself, outside the control of Islamabad or any of our allies. And this regime is growing more hostile to our national security by the day.
To eliminate this threat, the U.S. has no choice but to use force. Six years ago, Bush said that using pre-emptive military power was essential in the war on terror, because "the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows."
The commander in chief must now apply his doctrine to tribal Pakistan.
