ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hundreds of tribesmen from Pakistan's semiautonomous regions near the Afghan border have ended a rare tribal council meeting with call for the army to crush the Taliban.
The meeting, held in the northwestern city of Peshawar (puh-SHAH'-wuhr), was called by an umbrella group of aid organizations and political parties in an effort to bring together people from the violence-battered region.
Participants called for the army to escalate its attack against the network of Islamist militants across the tribal regions, dismissing Pakistan's earlier offensives as "military dramas."
They also called for more power for traditional councils, which play a central role in the Pashtun culture that dominates the often lawless region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Participants said they had little faith in the U.S.-Pakistan alliance, and that Washington and Islamabad were more worried about internal politics than dealing with the social issues at the root of much of the violence.
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<<APPHOTO PES101 (03/21/10)>>
: Pakistani tribesmen participate in traditional dance, after a tribal jirga or meeting in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, March 20, 2010. Hundreds of tribesmen from the semiautonomous regions near the Afghan border ended a rare tribal council meeting Saturday with a declaration saying that democracy is the only way to fight terrorism.
