•Rakesh Sinha: You were in the Kandhar in the early 90’s. Do you see any similarities in the manner in which Taliban advanced on Kabul and the way they are spreading out in Pakistan?

Yousufzai: I was in Kabul the day Kabul fell to Taliban. It was September 27th 1996. They had hanged President?? Najibullah that day. It is an armed group, Taliban. They have been using force to occupy the country. They managed to occupy 90 percent of it and they were removed by force by the Americans and their allies. They were defeated but they were not actually destroyed. They just retreated to their villages, mountains and Pakistan. It’s my belief that Taliban are the strongest group militarily in Afghanistan – the Afghan army is not that strong and its motivation level is not very high. So they need foreign forces. In Pakistan, it is not like that. Pakistan has got a large army which has not been able to defeat Taliban fully but it has been able to inflict losses on Taliban. Also in Pakistan, I don’t think state institutions have broken down. In Afghanistan, after a long period of war and the Afghan jehad, every institution had broken down. It was easy for Taliban to capture the whole country. In Pakistan we have a functioning Parliament, a democracy, we still have the army, the civil armed forces and the people of Pakistan, the majority of whom do not support Taliban. Taliban may be strong in certain areas and they can dictate terms. Out of fear people will listen to them and support them. They have been growing in influence in Waziristan, Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram?? and now Swat. And they can strike anywhere in Pakistan. But that would be suicide bombings, ambushes, rockets, etc. I don’t think they will be able to occupy a town or a city. This is a guerrilla group that believes in hit and run tactics. I don’t think we have reached the stage when Taliban in Pakistan would be able to take over the country.

... contd.