A Dime a Dozen Blog

Bill Roggio has a story on his blog today detailing the advance of the Taliban throughout Pakistan`s tribal areas:

The Taliban continue to take territory in the Northwest Frontier Province. After fighting the Pakistani military to a standstill in North Waziristan and forcibly taking over much of Swat, the Taliban have marched eastward into the settled district of Shangla.

Over 500 Taliban fighters under the command of Maulana Muhammad Alam poured into Shangla and took control of the district office and police station in Alpuri “without facing any resistance from the government,” the Daily Times reported. “All government functionaries, including the DPO [District Police Officer] and DCO [District Coordination Officer], left the area the moment they heard of the fall of Shangla Top police station, located at the border between Swat and Shangla.” The district courts are also under Taliban control, Dawn reported.

This is bad news in and of itself. But if you couple that with two more things it becomes terrifying news.

First, the New York Times report today that the US government has lost faith in Musharraf and are now expecting his fall:

Several senior administration officials said that with each day that passed, more administration officials were coming around to the belief that General Musharraf’s days in power were numbered and that the United States should begin considering contingency plans, including reaching out to Pakistan’s generals.

Second is a map – or rather two maps. The first map is on Roggio`s blog and shows the tribal areas under Taliban control. The second map is on globalsecurity.org and shows Pakistan`s nuclear facilities and the likely disposition of its nuclear weapons. Combine the two and you see this (click to enlarge):

Basically what it shows is the Taliban within about 10km of Pakistan`s nuclear facilities. Think about how far you travel during your daily commute, then look back at that map. 10km give or take and the Taliban get their hands on nuclear materials.