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Is Al Qaeda About To Conquer Pakistan?

Mustafa Qadri is newmatilda.com's Middle East and South Asia Correspondent. He has reported widely from Israel and Palestine, London and Pakistan.

Writing in "Is Al Qaeda About To Conquer Pakistan?" newmatilda.com Qadri says:

"According to David Kilcullen — head of counter-terrorism at the US State Department and former Australian digger — Pakistan "could collapse within months". Most ominously, he claims that al Qaeda could end up running a "Talibanistan" in Pakistan.

The situation is certainly dire in Pakistan, but the real threat comes not from al Qaeda but a Taliban insurgency fuelled by disaffected young men who, with no prospects of employment, are lured by the "honour" and "respect" garnered from fighting the more powerful Pakistan Army, who are seen as a proxy for the United States.

The signs are not good. Last week the Pakistan Government finally approved legislation enacting a Taliban-friendly regime of Islamic law in the Swat valley, which is a mere 160 kilometres from the capital Islamabad.

The Government caved in over fears that its refusal to approve the measure — a stance taken after lobbying from Washington and London — would add fuel to the Taliban's jihadi movement.

Yet this is precisely what has happened in the district neighbouring Swat. The Taliban recently expanded their insurgency to an area called Buner, which is even closer to Islamabad — around 100 kilometres away.

The driving force behind these developments is not al Qaeda but an expanding network of local, ethnic Pakhtun militias fighting under the Taliban banner."

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