Tension in northern Pakistan looks to have increased significantly in the past couple of weeks - it's hard to get a clear picture of what's going on but it seems important enough to diary. Reports of Taliban in northern Pakistan, and Al Qaeda are confusing, especially taken with mention of jirgas and deals being made. Is a diplomatic course with (what is now) the Taliban being pursued, or is it an all out fight with 90000 Pakistani troops against the (Taliban/Al Qaeda?) of Northern Pakistan?
The times of India reports that the recent army base bombing in Pakistan was an 'inside job' by sympathetic suicide bomber soldier.
ISLAMABAD: Investigators suspect a suicide bomber who killed 16 Pakistani commandos as they ate at their base had insider help, a military official said.
Security officials initially said Thursday's blast at the Ghazi Tarbela base, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital, Islamabad, was the work of an attacker driving an explosives-laden vehicle.
According to the Pakistan Daily Times Editorial:
That the attack occurred in one of Pakistan’s most "secured" areas is shocking. Tarbela is a highly sensitive spot because of the location in it of the country’s most important dam, Tarbela Dam, the largest earth-filled dam in the world. In view of the permanent state of vigilance mounted on the area, it is difficult to imagine that Al Qaeda pulled off a major operation against the army without the help of its "insider" loyalists. Already, some evidence of the reluctance of the army to fight the "Islamic warriors" in Waziristan has come to light. Troops in South Waziristan and in other locations inside the NWFP have been surrendering without a fight and becoming willing hostages to warlord Baitullah Mehsud to make the Pakistan army give up its resolve to fight Al Qaeda.
Even more ominous are reports such as thisfrom the pakistan AP that reported on the breakdown of the deal to release 260 Pakistani solders that were captured last week.
Insurgents backtracked on a deal to free more than 260 abducted Pakistani troops on Monday after an army raid on their hideout near the Afghan border left three rebels dead, a tribal elder said.
...Pakistan - a close U.S. ally in Washington's "war on terror" - has deployed some 90,000 troops to the Pakistan-Afghan border region to track down militants.
Hopefully a deal will be made through the jirga to release the 260, as Pakistan will be seen to lose more influence in the region.