The offensive is being prepared for a drive into the major bastion of the Taliban:
Pakistan's army launched airstrikes and ferried in tanks and artillery as it confirmed Tuesday that it was preparing a major offensive against insurgents in al-Qaida and the Taliban's safest haven along the Afghan border.
The highly anticipated military operation in South Waziristan is seen as a potential turning point in the years long and sometimes half-hearted fight against militancy in Pakistan. It could also help curb Taliban attacks on Western forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
But the offensive in the lawless tribal region will also be the toughest yet for Pakistan's military, testing both its fighting capability and the government's will to see it through, analysts said.
If the Pakistanis can control their side of the border, it makes our decisions on where to place our troops in Afghanistan much easier:
"We are going to look at those parts of the country that are most important -- and those typically, in an insurgency, are the population centers," McChrystal said in an interview shortly after pinning on his fourth star. He replaced Gen. David D. McKiernan, who was fired by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates after 11 months on the job.
McChrystal's comments suggested that he wanted to pull forces out of some of the more remote, mountainous areas of Afghanistan where few people live and where insurgent fighters may be seeking refuge. In recent months these isolated pockets have been the scene of some of the most intense fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents.
Interdicting the border to keep men and supplies from entering Afghansitan becomes far less important a mission for our troops on the Afghanistan side of the border if the Taliban are interdicted on the Pakistan side of the border.
