Pakistan says “We’re Winning!”

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani leaders say the military offensive in a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border is succeeding and have resolved to press ahead despite a ferocious wave of retaliatory attacks that have killed some 200 people this month.

via The Associated Press: Pakistan says anti-Taliban offensive succeeding.

Well, yes, I guess they would say that, wouldn’t they? Unfortunately, as the local authorities in the border regions around South Waziristan have made it very clear that foreign journalists aren’t welcome, it’s impossible to verify the army’s claims.

But stories filtering out from refugees in Dera Ismael Khan, the region next to South Waziristan Agency where the bulk of the IDPs have fled, reveal an army that’s not sending in ground troops and instead relying on aerial bombardment and artillery. Villages and homes are being shattered and bitterness against the military is growing. (Gee, I wonder why they’ve now banned foreign journalists? More on that later.)