The Enemy Within: The Pakistani Taliban

Islamabad looks as colorful as ever, but even the capital is on constant warning. Pakistan is under aggression from within. More than 5,000 Pakistani soldiers have been executed and nearly 9,000 injured battling militants on the western border. Some of the terrorists are Afghan and Arab fanatics who escaped from Afghanistan, but most are Pakistani stimulated by the external militants to massacre, cripple and bomb their own people. The casualties aren't just soldiers. There are assaults on noncombatants, like the bombing of a police commencement ceremony. The main wrongdoers are the Pakistani Taliban. They're product of the Afghan Taliban and they're even more barbarous. For ten years Pakistan's leading specialist on extremism, Ahmed Rashid, has advised of their ascent. From being a very small band ruling an insignificant area they have spread. They now have recruited militant groups in Karachi, Punjab, Sindh, Kashmiri and many other places. There is now a total extremist activity in Pakistan that is trying to eradicate the State. The ideas and handlers of some of the worst acts of terrorism take up residence in these distant areas – in a place named Waziristan. According to the US intel, even the Bali explosions that killed 88 Australians can be tracked down to this place. Pakistan's penetrable border with Afghanistan is completely open to crooks and extremists. Since 2002 it's been the exact residence of al Qaeda and the Taliban. They simply moved here after the US-led attack on Afghanistan. This border is normally banned for most Pakistanis let alone strangers, but the author of this documentary has been given exceptional access to go inside Pakistan's interior war. It's taken months for the film crew to get authorization to go to the tribal area. The army has agreed to drive them to a part it says it's "free", but they have to move with heavily-armed escort. The army will also have the final word on what they can record.