Taliban in Pakistan's Wild Wild West

Jason Burke writes in The Observer about recent developments in Pakistan's "Wild Wild West".

Across an area that stretches through Pakistani cities such as Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi, through Kabul and Kandahar, to remote villages and Nato bases in southern Afghanistan, it is possible to unpick the intricate detail of the battle for the strategic centre of the War on Terror. What emerges is a picture not of a single movement or insurgency called 'the Taliban', but of a new state without formal borders or even a name, a state that is currently nothing more than a chaotic confederation of warlords' fiefdoms spanning one of the most critical parts of the world and with the potential to escalate into a very real presence - with devastating consequences for global security.

That's the region where all players suffer from lack of certainty about their borders, enemies, and strategies. The only faction that seems to have a clear vision of all that is - Taliban.

According to Brigadier Shah, the Pakistani army is 'currently fighting blindfold', and western intelligence agencies admit a 'lack of visibility' in the tribal areas.

Reminds me of Bertrand Russell, "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt".