Pakistan Taliban set up camps in Syria, join anti-Assad war

[Bosonic]

Source: Reuters

The Pakistani Taliban have set up camps and sent hundreds of men to Syria to fight alongside rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, militants said on Sunday, in a strategy aimed at cementing ties with al Qaeda's central leadership.

More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi'ite oppressors.

Operating alongside militant groups such as the al Nusra Front, described by the United States as a branch of al Qaeda, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia riven by similar conflict as a result of the Arab Spring.

On Sunday, Taliban commanders in Pakistan said they had also decided to join the cause, saying hundreds of fighters had gone to Syria to fight alongside their "Mujahedeen friends".

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/14/us-pakistan-syria-taliban-idUSBRE96D02V20130714

[John2]

1. These are

the people, the United States has started to negotiate with, and they sat up their headquarters in Qatar, right next to a U.S. military base. Remember what Karzai hinted about the CIA and the Taliban. Remember the past ties between the U.S. and Taliban during the Russian invasion in Afghanistan. It looks like the same bedfellows are at it again. So the Taliban has decided to spread their roots into other countries with their extremist religious beliefs. These are the same people that shot that Pakistani girl. Now these murderers want to go into Syria. I think the Syrian people need to wake up. And why aren't they labeled a Terrorist group?

[karynnj]

2. They are designated a terrorist group

and the US has praised Pakistan when they fought them. Here - from wikipedia - is the official US list. Look under Pakistan and they are one of the groups listed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._State_Department_list_of_Foreign_Terrorist_Organizations#Middle_East

I do think if this really happens, it would be wise for the US and Russia to push Assad and "our" moderates to find peace - in spite of many things on both sides - and work to expel these outside fighters. I know it could be seen as a "loss of face" for the US - and Obama would get hell from McCain and the Republicans but that might be the only way to avoid chaos and worse.

[John2]

4. Finally,

we agree on something.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. No they're actually not the same people

The Afghan and Pakistani organizations that refer to themselves as Taliban are very different and distinct animals. The Pakistani branch is a loosely affiliated (and occasionally warring) coalition of small Wahhabi-Deobandi militants who thusly named themselves to leech off the great prestige that the Afghan resistance has with the people, but in reality they are nasty little currs who have brought much trouble to themselves with their more reckless tactics. Their war against the Pakistani state is a constant source of tension with Afghan and Kashmiri militants who rely on good relations with Pakistan to diplomatically shield them from more powerful state enemies.

[roamer65]

3. How long before the regional ME war?

I'd give it a year tops.