Baitullah Mehsud: One of the World's Most Influential Men, Dead Or Alive

For a while in 2008, international intelligence agencies thought Baitullah Mehsud was dead. Like his cousin-in-arms, Osama bin Laden, Mehsud suffers from chronic ailments, including diabetes, kidney problems and hypertension. Kidney collapse and lack of medical care was said to be the cause of death.

But it seems that Baitullah Mehsud is not dead. (Though who really knows what is really going on in those smoke-and-mirror western border regions?) He remains one of the powerful men in Pakistan and indeed, the world. Time magazine this week named him number 4 in their "100 Most Influential".

Baitullah Mehsud is the leader of the Pakistan Taliban (if you can call that range of Talib groups throughout the north and west of the country a cohesive group). He achieved his position through his Teamsters-like ability to organize, a solid network from his time over the border (where he was mentored by Afghan Taliban head Mullah Omar) and the tribal allegiances that are at his beck and call.

Baitullah Mehsud is thought to be behind the December 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the September 2008 Islamabad Marriott bombing and the March Lahore police academy bombing. In between these impressive acts of violence and ruthlessness, Mehsud has waged a war of fear and dread on vast swathes of the north-west populace, demanding payment from citizens (he calls it "tax") for protection and solving minor and major disputes with summary justice.

A brief article such as this cannot do credit to the twists and turns and Machiavellian nature of the Talib movement in Pakistan. There are so many factions, views on Sharia law, breakaway groups, imposters, allegiances and much infighting and intrigue involved. But at the centre of it all is mastermind Baitullah Mehsud - who has overseen the Talibanization of Pakistan and the incidences of random suicide bombings over the last four years.

Here's some personal statistics. Baitullah Mehsud is about 35 years old and is thought to have had little formal education outside the madrassah. People who have met him say he is short - around 5'2" (156cm). He was born in the North West Frontier, and is from the Pashtun tribe of his name - Mehsud. His first wife gave him four daughters so he reportedly married again, hoping for male offspring.

Like Mullah Omar, Baitullah Mehsud has a religious aversion to having his voice taped or his photograph taken, (although one grainy photo shows a man - if it really is him - who looks like a roadie for the Grateful Dead circa 1969).

He did grant an interview to the BBC in 2007 where he said that the way to world peace was through jihad, and that it is the duty of every Muslim to join jihad. In March, he told Agence-France Press "Very soon we will take revenge from America, not in Afghanistan but in Washington, which will amaze the entire world."

His elusiveness hasn't prevented him negotiating with Islamabad, though it could be argued that the negotiations were more like the government ceding to threats and standover tactics. In early 2005 under a 'negotiated peace', the Pakistan army withdrew from Mehsud-held areas of Waziristan, leaving only a small paramilitary presence. In return, Baitullah Mehsud agreed not to give safe haven to foreign militants or disrupt government operations. The agreement did not last long (although Baitullah Mehsud blamed its collapse on the Pakistan government and then took 200 soldiers hostage for three months).

Last month the State Department slapped a $5 million reward on Baitullah Mehsud. Islamabad says that the US has spectacularly failed to bomb Mehsud out of his haven despite the US being provided with the best intelligence on his whereabouts.

Million dollar rewards, aerial bombing, intelligence, political will. Up until now, Baitullah has defied them all.

Comments

[vishix]

when you weight the positives and negatives of breaking up pakistan, the positives far outweigh any negatives. I think weakening that state considerably by its breakup will bring peace and stability to the region in the long run. If anyone can think of a reason not to break up pakistan I would love to hear it.

[Feanor]

The Pakistani military, which has nuclear weapons, would probably disagree vehemently with your plan. That's one reason that leaps to mind.

[vishix]

I'm talking about the end result, not the means of getting there. The Pakistani army is more flash than substance. They had full backing of the US and still lost 3 times to India. Then they had that misadventure in Kargil. They're only success story is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan... and we all know how that ended up :)

[marko77]

mommadona See Profile I'm a Fan of mommadona I'm a fan of this user permalink
photo
I have a question.
HOW can you be considered a good Muslim when you kill people? Especially OTHER Muslims?
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­_____

Easy. The Sunnis have considered the Shia 2nd class Muslims for centuries and Wahhabi "Muslims" - who control Saudi Arabia - will happily kill other Muslims who don't adhere to their perverse and twisted interpretation of Islam.

I think the vast majority of people in Pakistan will have to decide how much they support groups who think like the Wahhabi - namely the Taliban and Al Queda. It seems like the majority either support them or turn a blind eye to them. They blame their problems on India or the West while the Taliban gain more and more influence.

[SaulZ]

First of all the western writers should get rid in their minds of the notion that Pakistan can be Talibanized. This notion has been created by conservatives and neo-conservatives, and the extremist Israeli and Indian lobby working for their own designs with anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda. You need to carefully read various columnists writing articles in Pakistani newspapers and confirm for yourself that people in northwestern province of Pakistan, allegedly the Taliban supporters, are so much anti-Talibans. Baitullah Mehsud is a confirmed anti-Pakistan terrorist. It has been proven that the USA military and drones let him go unscathed when his coordinates were provided to them by Pakistani agencies. Pakistanis believe that it is the USA and India who are trying to destabilize Pakistan by sending in their "Jihadis" in the guise of Pakistani Talibans. These "Pakistani Talibans" will disappear as soon as the USA and India leave Afghanistan.

[jaysan]

Thank you for your imaginatively paranoid rant, Saul-X, it certainly epitomizes what is wrong with Pakistan today.

It's the Pakistani govt themselves who constantly seem to be giving dire warnings about how if they don't get more aid, money, armaments, etc, that their country could fall to the Taliban. In other words, they seem to be running a protection racket. (ie. "If you don't give me more money, these nasty Taliban guys could spread everywhere!")

Furthermore, the hardliners inside the Pakistani military establishment would love to see their pet Taliban wolves herding the Pakistani flock to keep them obedient to their militarist agenda, much as General Zia happily imposed Sharia and the Hadood ordinances to keep an iron hand on the population during the 1980s (will you claim Zia was an agent of the Indians and Israelis too?)

However, when the Pakistanis recently tripped the American redline by bringing Taliban within close reach of the capitol and control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, then the US was forced to issue an ultimatum that made the Pakistanis fearful that the US could pre-emptively destroy their nukes. That's now brought us to seeing so many Pakistanis backpeddling and insisting that there was never any real Taliban threat of overrunning the country.

It's hard to put on a pretense when you're trying to be all things to all people, isn't it?
Get used to the taste of crow, since you'll be eating a lot of it in the future.

[Virginia M. Moncrieff - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post SaulZ. I really appreciate it. I disagree (in some degree) about your point aboutTalib­anization. If you are in Pakistan it is probably the number one fear of most Pakistanis. They believe Pakistan can be - and is being - Taloibanized. In many of the rural areas, this is seen as a good thing (for the usualy socio-economic reasons) but for the growing middle classes it's a complete nightmare.

Baitullah Mehsud speaks to those rural, disenfranchized poor.

I read the Pakistan papers - many of those columnists are my friends. I lived in the NWFP until recently. NWFP has many urban and educated centres - it is considered one of the great and wonderful parts of Pakistan - which as a country has a very long and impressive tradition of education, scholarship and public debate.

Thanks again for your comments.

[Strategy]

Educated and Elite Pakistani's views on current events in the region:--
"""Mumbai 26/11 was orchestrated by RAW,Mossad and CIA to blame it on Pakistan and eventually take out Pakistani nukes!!!!"""
""'Islamabad Marriott hotel bombing is a handiwork of foreign (aka Indian Intelligence agencies) to destabilize Pakistan""""
"""Attack on Sri lankan cricketers is orchestrated by Indians to take revenge for mumbai"""
""" Taliban problem is a handiwork of Indian-Israeli lobby"""
Come on guys.... It's about time you wake up and stop blaming "Foreign hand" for all your problems...
Talking about Pakistani newspaper columns, why don't you go through recent editorials published by "The News"... for eg this one : -
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Taliban uninterrupted
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Taliban have now moved into the Shangla and Buner districts in full earnest. Residents report masked militants driving through the streets while loud speaker message warn that no 'un-Islamic' activity will be tolerated. Terrified local people cower within their homes as the Taliban take over towns and hamlets without challenge. What seems to have been a rather half-hearted attempt by the Frontier Constabulary to take up positions in Buner was effortlessly thwarted by militants who ambushed the police vehicle leading the FC Convoy, killing one policeman. The convoy then made a rapid retreat. The apparent connivance of some people in the bureaucracy does not help either and one can only wonder under what mandate they are operating against the interests of the nation and the state.
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[mehmetaydalka]

don't crash,do usefull working for wonderful world,build it it again...

www.ilkon.com

[enquiringmind]

Like it or not he has a lot of tribal support, and the more mass bombing and killing of civilians the more support he will have..

Bin Laden was clear why he was angry at the west in his words on 911 I doubt Mehsud would say anything different.

[marko77]

Bin Laden was clear why he was angry at the west in his words on 911 I doubt Mehsud would say anything different. by enquiring mind
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The only difference between Charlie Manson and Bin Laden is that Charlie likes the Beach Boys music and he can play a few chords. Bin Laden is so uptight - leaping right out of the 12th century and he loves the idea of mass murder - it gets him off. I'm not being facetious. The guy's a freak.

[Velocitor]

Is this the Boogie Man of the week? They don't know if he's alive or dead, he's "thought to be" behind the Bhutto assassination (so he's in the CIA, I guess? it doesn't say...). They go on at length about how powerful and influential he supposedly is (scarey!) ...So what did the guy do? What's his crime? Oh.. "a brief article such as this cannot do credit to the twists and turns and Machiavellian nature of the Talib movement"
Translation: Don't ask questions, just be scared like we tell you to... but trust your government will keep you safe, if you just stop worrying about your liberties.
I will include this article in my new book, "How I Let Go of Critical Thinking and Learned to Love the PATRIOT ACT"

[Virginia M. Moncrieff - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for the kind and very considered words, Velocitor. Make sure when you include me in your new book that you preface it with the fact that you use the very old and hackneyed expression "they" as some indication of a massive world conspiracy. Please also mention that you also make an awful lot of assumptions about me; my nationality for one.

[mommadona]

I have a question.

HOW can you be considered a good Muslim when you kill people? Especially OTHER Muslims?

Anyone else sick of this "Where's Waldo" scheme - THIS ones da bad guy...nope - THIS one...nooo­oo-waaaaai­t aminute - THIS one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq28qCklEHc

[Goliadkin]

...although one grainy photo shows a man - if it really is him - who looks like a roadie for the Grateful Dead circa 1969..."

I knew there must be a reason why the Dead released that album, "Blues for Allah"! Wow, this guy Mehsud really is influential.

[NihilisticDissent]

Send in my fathers old unit the 5th group Special Forces to take this guy out, they will get it done. Some one is protecting this guy and if it is not the ISI in Pakistan(Who funded 9-11)then it is someone bigger.

[IDIOTA]

I think that it is ironic that the Taliban are whipping people in the "Swat" Valley. The Taliban and the religious right seem equally tolerant.

[NihilisticDissent]

Good point

[dogman44]

They share the same agenda, converting the world to their rigid theocatic beliefs. The use of
violent force can always be easily rationalized by the rightious, the true belivers.

[davidwayneosedach]

They'll never kill Meshud!

[escribacat]

And that's good because ... ?

[NihilisticDissent]

Must be a talib

[tjboyo]

It never ceases to amaze me how people from these remote places think that ignorance, intolerance, and religious fanatisism bring out the "best" in people.

[MideastDove]

Like the people in "Jesus Camp"?

http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

[marko77]

MideastDove See Profile I'm a Fan of MideastDove I'm a fan of this user permalink
photo
Like the people in "Jesus Camp"?
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­___

Yes, quite true. The Taliban and Al Queda are just like the people in "Jesus Camp." Radical religious fundamentalists are opposite sides of the same coin. They can't see it, however, because they think their own religion is the only true path to Truth.

[AlonsoQijano]

The name of the famous Pashtun tribe that was never subdued by the British, and which occupies the central mountain bastion of Waziristan, should actually be spelled "Mahsud," as in Sir Evelyn Howell's famous 1930 report, "Mizh: A Report on Government's Relations with the Mahsud Tribe."

The Pakistan press, of course, are enthusiastic followers of T.E. Lawrence's trasliteration system, which consists in spelling names in every possible way: Mahsud, Mehsud, Masood, etc. The Mahsuds and Wazirs themselves pronounce it more like "Mahsit". See Olaf Caroe's "The Pathans: 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957".

[SNusbaumer]

I find this article interesting, and well written. Beautiful, even if Meshud isn't.

from Afghanistan,
Stewart Nusbuamer