Pakistani Battle for Malakand

Via Bill Roggio, we learn that the Pakistani Army continues to pound Taliban fighters in Swat Valley and other areas of Malakand, claiming to have killed more than 1200.

American intelligence sources dismiss these numbers as 'wildly exaggerated'.

But these numbers may be accurate. The Taliban has been standing their ground, with large firefights raging up and down the Swat Valley. They have also counterattacked. on 31 May the Taliban struck a Pakistani paramilitary camp in South Waziristan, suffering as many as 50 dead. The recent spate of suicide bombings, and kidnappings suggest the Taliban may be desperate to turn the tide.

Also, the Pakistani Army is a very well armed and trained professional force, they are as capable of laying down an artillery barrage or overlapping fields of fire as anyone.

History shows it is possible to kill insurgent forces in large numbers. During Operation Cast Lead, the Israelis killed more than 700 Hamas gunmen in more than three weeks of fighting in Gaza. More than 700 Hezbollah gunmen were killed during the 2006 Lebanon War.

There are also reports that the Taliban is pulling out of the Swat Valley.

Only time will tell. Whatever the success of this operation, it does not change the fundamental conflict in Pakistan between the Islamist Taliban and the moderate intelligentsia, formerly represented by the late Benazir Bhutto. The army stands in the middle. Right now they fight the Taliban.