Taliban challenge of 21st century

About 3,000 terrorists in Swat Valley would be killed, says President Zardari
WASHINGTON: President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated his confidence that his country will not collapse in the increasing insurgency of the Taliban forces, adding this is the new challenge of the 21st century, and this is the new war."
Speaking in an interview with the NBC aired on Sunday, Zardari said, "Is the state of Pakistan going to collapse? No. We are 180 million people. There the population is much, much more than the insurgents are."
Zardari made the remarks in response to the saying by some US military analysts who had raised the possibility of a collapse of the Pakistani state because of the worsening situation resulted from the Taliban insurgency.
Admitting that Pakistan has "a problem" with Taliban activities inside its borders, Zardari called for joint international effort to deal with the threats of Taliban activities. "I think we need to find a strategy where the world gets together against this threat, because it's not Pakistan-specific. It's not Afghanistan-specific," he said.
"I think the world needs to understand that this is the new challenge of the 21st century, and this is the new war."
Observing that about 3,000 terrorists were in Swat valley, President Asif Ali Zardari said his government is determined to kill them all to bring life to normalcy in the picturesque valley.
He said that Pakistan Army has been carrying out operation against the terrorists and they had some successes earlier and "this success is going to be even more effective." When asked to clarify on the statement made by his Prime Minister that the objective was to "eliminate the militants and terrorists," Zardari said:
"That means clearing out the area of the miscreants and bringing life to normalcy. ... If they can, they kill our soldiers and we do the same." When interviewer, Margaret Warner asked him to clarify what "eliminate" means, Zardari said "eliminate means exactly what it means." When she asked: "Killing them all". Zardari replied: "That's what it means." It could be the toughest message coming from President against the terrorists so far.
Zardari said the Swat peace agreement with militants no longer exists. "The deal was based upon the fact that they would bring peace and lay down the arms. They refuse to lay down arms and they did not bring peace to the region. So yes, you can say that the deal is off," he said.
Acknowledging that there has been a presence of the Taliban in the Swat Valley, Zardari however asserted that they were never running the show. "There was a presence of the Taliban. We were there and we had - you know this is the third operation in Swat. We have encountered them before and we had an agreement which failed - it did not work.
So now they have to be eliminated." Zardari also said that the deal could not be revived in case the Taliban abide by the contours of the agreement and stop taking military action.
President said after the army operation was over non-governmental and humanitarian organisations would be asked to move in the area to provide aid.
"We can't have the aid donors going in there and getting casualties on them also. So it is a little precarious, a little difficult situation. But the moment it settles down, they will be allowed to go there. At the moment, the situation is the people have come out of the area. So we are looking after them in camps. Most of them have gone to their own extended families. That's the way it is playing out," he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari has said India is not a threat to Pakistan and it is facing danger from the terrorists inside the country.
"Well, I am already on record. I have never considered India a threat," Zardari said.
"I have always considered India a neighbour, which we want to improve our relationship with. We have had some cold times and we have had some hard times with them. We have gone to war thrice, but democracies are always trying to improve relationships," Zardari said while responding to a question about "which being the greatest threat to Pakistan? India, or the militants."