Pakistani army soldiers in Bajaur. Photograph: Jason Burke/ObserverAn Old Army In A New War -- The Guardian
The Pakistani army is engaged in a gritty battle with Afghan militants in a border area where it has never had authority. Jason Burke reports from Loesam
Loesam is a long way from anywhere. Once a small town in north-west Pakistan, on the Afghanistan frontier, it has been razed to the ground. The bazaar is a pile of rubble, homes scraped down to their concrete foundations. The only building still upright is the mosque that stands in the corner of what once was the local petrol station. The population has fled.
A few hundred metres out of Loesam, the 25th Punjab regiment of the Pakistani army is digging in. The few hundred metres were seized the day before in a short, sharp engagement with militants entrenched in mud-walled compounds, stands of slim ash, birch trees and dry valleys with their yellow dust walls on their outskirts.
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My Comment: An excellent summary of what the war on the ground is like for the Pakistani Army as it continues its battles with Islamic militants, the Afghan Taliban, and their Al Qaeda allies.