Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with the BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad about fighting in Pakistan's Buner district. The Pakistani army says it has re-taken control of the district's main town from Taliban militants in the area.
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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. President Barack Obama reminded Americans today of the threat of terrorism.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: In Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, we do have real problems with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. They are the single most direct threat to our national security interests.
MULLINS: The President was speaking at a town hall meeting in St. Louis, where he said there would be no safe haven for Osama Bin Laden and his allies to plot new attacks on Americans. That may be easier said than done. The Taliban have expanded into new districts in northern Pakistan this month. Just today, there was heavy fighting only 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad. Government troops attacked rebels in a district called Buner. The BBC's Mark Dummett is in Islamabad. He says the Pakistani army is claiming some success.
MARK DUMMETT: The army says that this operation started in the early hours of the morning, when the helicopters dropped soldiers by this town, Daggar, which is the main town in Buner district, where the army says it wants to clear the Taliban militants – “to eliminate and expel the militantsâ€, in its own words.
MULLINS: It wants to expel the militants. So what kind of resistance is it facing?
DUMMETT: Well, it says that it has had some successes. For example, it has captured this town. But it admits that it is meeting stiff resistance elsewhere in Buner. The army has also admitted that 70 policemen and paramilitaries were captured by the militants. It was able to get 18 of them released, but that still is a serious headache for the security forces, that 52 of its men are being held by the Taliban.
MULLINS: One of the things that has raised so much concern, of course, about what's happening in the past couple of days anyway, is that the Taliban have moved frighteningly close to the capital, Islamabad. Is it clear right now, Mark, what the Taliban forces want?
DUMMETT: Well, the army has said that there's no chance that the Taliban are advancing on Islamabad. They don't pose a threat. I mean, at the moment, they are very much in the mountainous areas to the north and northwest of Islamabad, but I mean, their presence there does of course still worry the government, because for a start, they're close to two strategic places: the Kherikorum Highway, which links Pakistan and China; and a large dam, one of the country's largest and most important hydroelectric dams. Both are within reach of the Taliban if they're allowed to stay in Buner. But the feeling really here is that Hillary Clinton's statements last week where she said that Pakistan was in mortal danger -- the government was abdicating that the Taliban could take over Pakistan at some stage. I mean, the government and the Army here have said that's just simply not the case.
MULLINS: One other thing here. Obviously, this is an urgent concern for the people of Pakistan, particularly the areas in question where the Taliban are right now and where the fighting is going on with the Pakistani military. I wonder if those urgent fears are competing with what seem to be widespread urgent fears of the swine flu. To what extent is that a concern there?
DUMMETT: Not really a concern at all. The news channels here have been mentioning it, but no. I mean, Pakistan is very much concerned with its security. News of another strike by an American missile fired from a drone in the tribal areas – these drone attacks are deeply, deeply unpopular here in Pakistan, and they really make the fight against the Taliban, the fight against the militant and Al Qaeda much, much harder for the government to justify.
MULLINS: Is there any sign that those drone attacks may stop?
DUMMETT: No, not at all. I mean, there's every sign that Washington wants these extended rather than scaled back. And you know, many Pakistanis see this really as the big failure of Obama's new policy for their region – the fact that these drone attacks keep happening. People here take it very, very, very, very badly.
MULLINS: All right. Speaking to us from Islamabad, the BBC's Mark Dummett. Mark, thank you.
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Pakistan in turmoil