Tribal deals open doors for Pakistan army

The negotiations took weeks. The tribal council was called to try to convince Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the 42-year-old militant commander of North Waziristan, not to send his fighters to support the Taliban militants in the south.

Elusive and cunning, Gul Bahadar would be a key government ally in any effort to dislodge Taliban militants from the region. The army needed the consent of this bearded, religious scholar before taking on the Mehsuds, a neighboring, but rival tribe, who are loyal Taliban supporters. Without him, there could be no hope of a military success in routing out the militants.

In early September, 27 elders of the Wazir tribes, along with aides of Gul Bahadar, sat down with government representatives in Miranshah, the administrative capital of North Waziristan to work out a deal. Later, the talks moved to Peshawar in the Northwest Frontier Province.

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In the end, the government agreed to most of the tribe’s demands for cooperation; prisoners were exchanged and Gul Bahadar was compensated for losses suffered from U.S. drone attacks and military action in his areas. The tribal council was satisfied, an earlier peace agreement from 2007 was restored, and a feast of roasted goat, rice and sweets was served, according to centuries-old tribal traditions. 

“We will not intervene in the Mehsud’s wars,” said Maulana Sadiq Noor, deputy to Gul Bahadar, referring to the rival Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan from whom the Taliban militants in Pakistan draw most of their support. “Our people have suffered enough at the hands of the U.S. and the Pakistani governments. We want peace in our lands,” he said

Gul Bahadar brought on board his tribal ally, Maulvi Nazir, the commander who holds sway over the border areas of South Waziristan, which encircle the Mehsuds’ strongholds in the center.

“If the government attacks me and my people, then I will reply in the same manner, but I have no interest to intervene between the government and the Mehsuds,” Nazir told NBC News.

The Mehsuds were squeezed. The tribes had switched sides. The Wazirs, led by Gul Bahadar and Nazir to the north and west, and the Bhittani tribes to the east, would remain neutral and not prevent the Pakistani Army’s long planned offensive to attack the Taliban militant’s stronghold. 

The Wazirs, in contrast to the Mehsuds, have never attacked the state outside of their own lands of Waziristan. Their focus has always been to send fighters across the border to fight the U.S. and NATO in the Afghan jihad.

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