On Saturday night, I appeared on the John Batchelor Show (WABC Radio, New York, 770AM) to discuss the status of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan following the killing of Baitullah Mehsud.
Audio of the interview is available below:
Arif_Rafiq_JBShow_08_29_09.mp3

Hakimullah Mehsud has told BBC Urdu that Baitullah Mehsud died two days ago.
The BBC also spoke with Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud, who denied claims of rifts in the TTP. The report also states that Wali-ur-Rehman has been made TTP commander in the Mehsud areas of Waziristan.
So, we have a power sharing arrangement in which Hakimullah heads the [...]

Check out my blog at ForeignPolicy.com’s Af-Pak Channel on the ’selection’ of Hakimullah Mehsud as Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan chief and the organization’s internal divisions.

 BBC Urdu.com’s Rifatullah Orakzai reports that Maulvi Faqir Muhammad has announced that he is the “acting” amir of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).  Faqir, who spoke with the BBC via phone from an undisclosed location, claimed that Baitullah Mehsud is still alive.  He also added that the TTP-Swat spokesman, Muslim Khan, has replaced the recently [...]

Bilawal and his younger siblings were publicly unveiled in Multan this July. Each gave a speech that was in English save for some greetings and slogans in Urdu. The speeches were very hollow. The kids spoke on working for the poor, but failed to articulate any pro-poor policies. Asifa spoke of [...]

Almost two weeks after the killing of Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan continues to have an upper hand over the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).  But Rawalpindi-Islamabad’s gains over the TTP are unconsolidated.  The Pakistani Taliban network can rejuvenate itself.  Pakistan needs to sustain its vigilance against the militants, while at the same time not drag itself into [...]

Pakistan now has two leading singing political figures, Pervez Musharraf and Shahbaz Sharif. I think they’re both good.
Below is Mush singing while president, in the same hall in which the infamous Abdullah Yousuf danced in a manner that made me want to poke my eyes out. Mush’s artistic debut was first aired on [...]

A Chinese (or Chinese-American) young woman does an excellent job at singing Pakistan’s national anthem (qaumi tarana).

The head of Pakistan’s largest political party is on summer vacation from college. He is now free to interact with his people. He spoke to his darker minions of blood and sacrifice and then returned to his air conditioned suite, played Xbox 360 while texting his British girlfriend and scarfing down some [...]

Baitullah Mehsud is dead. Really dead. Blubber boy was taken out by a kid in Nevada with a joystick. Good stuff.
The Mehsud network has been weakened by a combination of Pakistani military operations, an aggressive propaganda campaign, and U.S. drone attacks. Its strategic space has been remarkably narrowed, despite [...]