Editor’s Note:  I’ve been sitting on this post for a few weeks now and finally have a chance to post it.  Fortunately for me, questions still linger about Pakistan’s motivations behind the recent spate of Taliban arrests.
SUMMARY
The first two months of 2010 have brought about a sea change on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  [...]

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HAKIMULLAH DEAD, PROBABLY.
Multiple media outlets reported today that Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), succumbed to his wounds from the January 14th drone strikes on Shaktoi, South Waziristan.  Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, also stated that there was credible information that Hakimullah was dead.  (Insider Brief sources claimed on January 17th that Mehsud had [...]

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While all eyes are focused on the insurgencies raging on both sides of Pakistan’s western border, Pakistan’s military continues to develop its conventional military capability alongside its counterinsurgency (COIN) capabilities.  There have been four major developments in the two last months:

December 8th – Pakistan received the first of seven Saab 2000 Erieye Airborne Warning [...]

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Summary
On September 23rd, Reuters reported that three intelligence officials confirmed that Pakistani troops and tribesman shot down a suspected US military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over South Waziristan. If true, Pakistan’s fast developing UAV industry could find itself bolstered with the latest American UAV technology.
Analysis
Viewed in the context of multiplying reports covering US cross-border [...]

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