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Baitullah has clearly outsmarted the unpopular Musharraf, whom President George W. Bush praised again last week as an "ally" who "understands clearly the risks of dealing with extremists and terrorists." In February 2005, with his military getting bloodied in the tribal areas, the Pakistani president decided to strike a peace deal with Baitullah and other militant leaders and their frontmen. Under the terms of the deal the militants agreed not to provide assistance or shelter to foreign fighters, not to attack government forces, and not to support the Taliban or launch cross-border operations into Afghanistan. As part of the deal, Baitullah coaxed the government into giving him and the other leaders $540,000 that they supposedly owed to Al Qaeda. The large cash infusion bolstered the jihadist forces, and under cover of the ceasefire Baitullah's territory became an even more secure safe haven. He and other militant leaders have assassinated some 200 tribal elders who dared to oppose them. The Pakistani government struck a similar peace agreement with militants in North Waziristan in September 2006, transforming much of that tribal area into a militant camp as well.

One of Baitullah's biggest successes came in August, when his men captured more than 250 Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary troops, who surrendered without firing a shot. Mehsud demanded the release of 30 jailed militants and the end of Pakistani military operations in the Mehsud tribal area as the price for the men's release. To show he meant business, he ordered the beheading of three of his hostages. Once again, Musharraf gave in. On the day after Musharraf declared a state of emergency—which he claimed was aimed at giving him a stronger hand to fight militants like Baitullah—the Pakistani president released 25 jailed insurgents including several failed suicide bombers. Last week Mehsud's forces captured four more Pakistani paramilitary troops in several brazen operations that may have led to the death of 25 of his men.

In his few statements to the press, Baitullah has made his agenda frighteningly clear. He vowed, in a January 2007 interview, to continue waging a jihad against "the infidel forces of American and Britain," and to "continue our struggle until foreign troops are thrown out" of neighboring Afghanistan. He knows he's a marked man: "The Angel of Death is flying over our heads all the time," he told the now deceased Taliban leader Mullah Akhund Dadullah at a dinner, according to one senior Taliban source. But from his secure corner of Pakistan—a country run by a widely despised autocrat who, after Bhutto, has few real democratic successors—Baitullah may well wage that fight for a long time to come.

With Mark Hosenball in Washington

© 2008

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: Nath @ 08/11/2009 7:44:04 AM

    Division of Pakistan is an obvious reality facing us all. The people of Baloch , long suppressed and oppressed are now saying it loud on the facebook. As far as Sindh is concerned , it was never really comfortable with Punjabi dominated Government. Al Qaueda cannot be allowed to flourish in Urban areas so the Drones will have to be deployed in Quetta , Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi especially to protect sensitive targets under risk of the veiled women and scarf wearing children trained by Al Quaeda to be human bombs...which is a part of the 180 million terrorists who live in Pakistan.

  • Posted By: Nath @ 08/10/2009 4:44:13 AM

    Mehdud was clearly very very reluctant to leave this world to meet Allah... he ran around like a coward for several weeks, even tried to have a son on the last evening -as if he was very afraid that he was to die. His martyrdom was also not duly celebrated by the muslims , the Pakistani Army...what else can one say? That they are not so so cornvinced about "heaven" and prefer to live here in hell?

  • Posted By: namatkhan @ 04/28/2009 9:38:53 AM

    In my opinion, what SYED JAMALUDDIN had proposed in his book titled "DIVIDE PAKISTAN TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM" is quite a workable plan of action. As Syed Jamaluddin has suggested, Pakistan should be disintegrated and divided into 5 or 6 parts. The primary objective of such disintegration shall be to dismantle terrorist camps operating on Pakistan´s soil. The disintegration of Pakistan as envisaged by Syed Jamaluddin has nothing to do with Islam or disturbing Muslims of South Asia. The disintegration of Pakistan is needed to crush the terrorist network and all hideouts of Osama bin Laden and people like Baitullah Mehsud. I guess Syed Jamaluddin´s theory of dividing Pakistan is very much practical and workable.

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