Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which is dubbed as the Pakistani Taliban group, has reportedly been killed. His death, however, is not fundamentally crucial to the counterinsurgency campaign in the region. For starters, other deputies and heirs apparent are waiting in the wings. Such is always the case with syndicated armed groups.
Right after Mehsud’s death, ‘the Taliban Shura (an advisory council meeting) met to elect a new TTP chief.’ Leaders are only second in importance to the jidahists themselves and their movement. The only risk in a situation such as this is factional infighting that can create a leadership void.
In the age of aerial drone attacks that kill civilians, ‘drone strikes have triggered collective armed action throughout the tribal agencies and have added more fuel to violent religious radicalism in this unstable, nuclear-armed country.’ Drone operations are said to be ‘a recruiting windfall for the Pakistani Taliban.’ A group leader no longer needs to rabblerouse and incite anger and hate. The tactics of the counterinsurgency campaign are enough to keep the jihad fired up enough.
Counterinsurgency campaigns, if they aim to be truly successful right at the core, should be able to address the root causes of the insurgency such as widespread poverty, injustice, and social degradation so as to enjoin the people to end the rebellion, and not merely neutralize the armed insurgent troops.
Via Cato Institute
