Goodbye Musharraf, hello Taliban - Syed Saleem Shahzad

The whole of NWFP, except for the Peshawar Valley, is in the hands of militants and Asia Times Online contacts confirm that al-Qaeda headquarters in the Waziristan tribal areas have developed a plan to step up attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan to stir up the masses and exploit the current difficulties in Islamabad following Musharraf's departure. Asia Times Online's contacts in Pakistan's strategic quarters maintain the militants' action is a response to a recent meeting of a tripartite commission in Kabul comprising representatives from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Afghan army and the Pakistani army, at which a coordinated plan was drawn up to take on militants across the region. The militants want to step up attacks on Pakistan to force it to reduce its cooperation in this fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

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This is clearly a government of disunity, destined to endless feuding and paralysis - a situation militants will exploit to the full, as they have since Musharraf shed his uniform last November. One of the key tactics of Islamic militants is to exploit political power vacuums, economic crises or any other problems to push a country towards disintegration. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, this process is underway. In Zardari's case, his presidential pardon through an ordinance could be withdrawn by the courts, and his political career would be over