Daily Brief: Baitullah Mehsud’s Wife Killed in Drone Strike

Baitullah Mehsud’s second wife was reportedly killed in a Predator drone strike in South Waziristan early this morning (Dawn and Geo TV). Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, appears to have escaped this attack, though many of the Obama administration’s drone strikes have targeted his Makeen stronghold (Reuters and BBC). Al Jazeera reports that the militant leader’s father in law was killed as well (Al Jazeera).

This weekend’s riots against Christians in Punjab, Pakistan were premeditated, according to an independent Pakistani human rights commission (Daily Times and Associated Press). Members of several banned Sunni extremist groups with ties to al Qaeda have been arrested as suspects, and the governor of Punjab said that "those who were evicted from [this spring’s battle between Pakistani security forces and Taliban militants in] Swat have a hand in this incident," but provided no proof of this claim.

Child soldiers

The Pakistani army has found 20 boys, some as young as seven, in the Swat Valley who have been trained by the Taliban to be informants, fighters, or even suicide bombers (Associated Press). One of the boys said there were as many as 60 others in the camp where he was trained, and a Pakistani army spokesman said the government will rehabilitate those who have been rescued thus far.

As part of an effort to hold the gains made this spring against Taliban militants, Pakistan has set up a community police force in Swat, offering $125 per month (Agence France Press). The new police chief says he has received over 1,600 applications thus far and aims to create a force of 4,000 policemen.

COIN and effect

Baraki Barak, an Afghan city about 40 miles south of Kabul, is an example of allied commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal’s new population-centric strategy of "clearing enemy fighters from towns, then remaining behind to train the police, stimulate economic growth and strengthen local government" (New York Times). But in spite of improvements over the past months and the presence of American troops, the city is "far from safe" — IEDs are found regularly, troops are ambushed by militants, and girls’ schools are attacked.

The loyal opposition

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik from northern Afghanistan and former Foreign Minister, presents the only real challenge to incumbent president Hamid Karzai in the August 20 presidential elections in Afghanistan (Time). Abdullah, though polling well behind Karzai, has experienced an upsurge of support in recent weeks, and advocates transitioning to a parliamentary system of government in the country. The Washington Post is featuring a slideshow with commentary of Dr. Abdullah’s underdog campaign (Washington Post).

Getting his feet wet

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the new head of NATO, visited Afghanistan in his first week on the job to "assess alliance efforts in the fight against insurgents," underlining his remarks earlier this week about how important the Afghan mission is to Europe (Agence France Press). Yesterday, NATO approved a restructuring of its command in Afghanistan to better coordinate alliance efforts against militants (New York Times).

It’s not all bad news