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The Swat Valley is in the spotlight now that President Barack Obama has turned his attention to the war in Afghanistan, where he plans to send more troops this spring.
The United States has been trying to stabilize Afghanistan since 2001, when U.S.-led forces destroyed the Taliban government and Al-Qaeda training camps that helped launch the Sept. 11 attacks.
Throughout that process, former President George W. Bush, and now President Obama have been working with Pakistan, which has little control over its mountainous northwest region, where Islamic militants and tribal leaders largely maintain power.
In the past year, 1,200 soldiers, militants and civilians have been killed in battles, and between 250,000 to 500,000 people have fled the valley, leaving Taliban militants who are sympathetic to Al-Qaeda fighters in control.
Uneasy truce with militants
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Pakistani men carry the coffin of a slain officer in Swat, one of many government police officers killed by Taliban militants. |
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Security officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan came to Washington last month to contribute ideas on fighting militants and improving security, even as the Pakistani government was brokering a deal that U.S. officials found troubling.
To get Taliban militants to agree to stop attacking Pakistan government forces in the Swat Valley, Pakistan agreed to let the tribal leaders bring Islamic (Sharia) rule to the former tourist region.
The tentative truce was struck between the government and tribal leader Cleric Sufi Mohammad, the father in law of Maulana Fazalullah, who has led the Taliban's violent often violent campaign to impose Sharia in the region.
Pakistan has defended the move as a way to bring more stability to the region.
"The arrangement is not with the Taliban. The arrangement is with the local people of Swat. It is a local solution to a local problem," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the NewsHour on Feb. 25.
Consequences for girls, freedoms
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Female education has been in issue in the cease-fire talks in Swat, where girls have been banned from schooling by Taliban militants. |
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Residents of Swat valley have welcomed an end tomonths of heavy fighting between an estimated 3,000 militants and more than 10,000 Pakistani troops but it remains unclear how the proposed agreement could actually change the lives of those on the ground, specifically women.
In some areas where Islamic law is strictly enforced, girls are not allowed to travel or attend school.
Taliban fighters in Swat have destroyed scores of girls' schools, and declared a ban on female education.
They also burned police stations and closed all the DVD and video stores.
A 24-year-old student from Swat's Kanju village, told the Voice of America, that private schools for both boys and girls near him have reopened and people are again shopping in the markets. He says public schools should reopen next week after the end of winter break.
"The situation is not perfect like the past. But the people are satisfied - the people have suffered so much death they consider this situation a blessing. There are still kidnappings and murders going on, but the situation will be soon better inshallah."
Cleric Mohammad has given the government a strict March 15 deadline to fulfill its promise to set up Islamic courts in the region or face protests in the region.
Last month Fazalullah conceded that girls may attend school until 5th grade. The government pledges girls will be allowed to attend school, but must wear veils.
Struggle for peace
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Roadside graffiti shows support for the TNSM party, a militant group banned by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in 2002. |
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Once a Buddhist, then a Hindu stronghold, the Swat valley has rich religious and historical ties. Pakistan tried to take full control in 1969, but the rugged terrain and tribal loyalties made incorporation difficult.
Cleric Mohammad Sufi gained national prominence in the mid '90s forming the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-Mohammadi (TNSM) party and calling for immediate imposition of Islamic Law in Swat.
Dysfunctional rule had eroded government credibility throughout Swat and some people wanted the simple, if sometimes brutal, justice of the old Sharia courts.
In 2002 Fazalullah, a former chairlift operator, aligned himself with the radical Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) party calling for immediate jihad, or holy war.
The TTP does not enjoy local support and Swat voters overwhelmingly chose the secular Awami National Party in 2007 local elections. Since then many secular politicians have been assassinated or have fled from threats.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan
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In a NewsHour interview, President Obama said that winning the war in Afghanistan means recognizing that many Taliban fighters come from neighboring Pakistan. |
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While the Pakistani government is talking to the tribal and Taliban leaders in the north, the United States army continues its unmanned missile strikes in the south, most recently killing 7 in the Taliban stronghold Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government insists publicly that the United States end these strikes, but President Obama maintains that the U.S. military will follow militants to their strongholds.
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