According to a report in The London Daily Telegraph, the Taliban has set up offices, introduced taxes and taken control of justice in the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan, where last month the government signed a peace agreement with wanted Taliban terrorists. Pakistani officials hoped the deal would empower tribal elders to control the Taliban, but an estimated 120 have been killed in the past year.
The deal signed by the government stipulated that al-Qaeda was to be expelled from North Waziristan, and pro-Taliban militants were not to run a "parallel administration" or take part in fighting against coalition forces across the border. In return, Pakistani forces, who had been fighting them over the summer, withdrew from combat. The army retained the right to carry out strikes in the area if militants did not adhere to the deal.
Power is now in the hands of a "mullahcracy" and people who Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf describes as hashish-smoking thugs who use the Taliban's mantle to coerce locals. Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani, a member of North Waziristan's Taliban shura, said his followers were abiding by the pact, but still offered "moral support" to those fighting in Afghanistan. "There is no doubt that we support this jihad against infidels, against these Christians who have invaded a Muslim land."
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