Hamid Mir - 12.5. 2009 --- Little Malalai Yousafzai was very happy after the peace agreement in Swat between the government and a pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad three months ago. Twelve-years-old Malalai was happy because she was sure that her school would be open after the peace agreement.

About 600 schools and colleges were closed in Swat three months ago due to fighting between the local Taliban and the security forces. More than 200 schools were destroyed in that fighting. I still remember the words of this student of class six who met me in Mingora immediately after the agreement. She said: "Uncle, I want to go back to my school because I want to become a doctor."

She also condoled the assassination of my colleague Musa Khankhel and said that the children of Swat were thankful to the media who were demanding peace from both the government and the Taliban by risking their lives. I assured Malalai that I would come to Swat again and again to make sure that all the female and male students go to the school. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, distributed sweets like many other Swatis after the peace agreement. Peace was a public demand and that was why a liberal and secular party, the ANP, negotiated peace with an anti-democracy cleric.

Malalai was back to her school within few days of the peace agreement in Swat. Peace was not in the interest of the Taliban but they never opposed it due to immense public pressure. They were sure that President Asif Ali Zardari would not sign the agreement due to American pressure. Despite all the pressure, President Zardari signed the agreement in April last month when it was endorsed by parliament. Once again sweets were distributed all over the Swat valley. Local people were dreaming to enjoy total peace in their valley. Unfortunately peace lasted just for few weeks. The Taliban sabotaged the agreement by kidnapping some police officials in the Buner area because the government was trying to establish its writ.

The majority of the people in Pakistan never cared about the US disliking the agreement, but they were annoyed when the Taliban violated the agreement. Many Swatis and Buneris, for first time, demanded action against the Taliban. Military action against the Taliban was started one week ago. This time local people are not supporting the Taliban. Thousands of people are migrating from Swat and Buner to safer places.

The Taliban are in panic because the locals are not ready to become their 'human shield" in the name of Islam. This is the first defeat of the Taliban. Local schools and colleges are once again closed but this time majority of the locals are not blaming the security forces or the government for their problems; they are blaming the Taliban. This is the first time after 9/11 that all the political parties in Pakistan are condemning the Taliban with a loud voice. It's a golden opportunity, to make this broad-based political consensus into a grand national counter-terrorism policy.

President Asif Ali Zardari met President Obama and President Hamid Karzai on May 6 in Washington. The three leaders agreed to make a joint strategy against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. But still, there is a problem. The majority in Pakistan do not see Washington as part of a solution. From what one reads in newspapers, sees on private TV channels and hears from political pundits and analysts, most view Washington as part of the problem.

They think that growing militancy in Pakistan is a reaction to US presence in Afghanistan and drone attacks in the tribal areas. US military adviser David Kilcullen admitted recently that drone attacks had killed about 700 Pakistani civilians and killed only 14 terrorists. He said they should be called off. Many Pakistanis think that America is interested in Pakistan only to the extent that it wants to use the latter's territory as a safe supply route for NATO forces in Afghanistan and that once its agenda is complete, it will again abandon Pakistan. Many Pakistanis view the US as a bigger threat than the Taliban because they fear the US is after their nuclear programme.

They think that the Taliban cannot take over Pakistan and they cannot steal our nuclear weapons. It is only US which could conspire to take the control of the Pakistani nuclear weapons with the help of India and Israel. There were no Taliban and Al Qaeda in 1989, they say. And they also cite the infamous Pressler amendment and the sanctions imposed on Pakistan as a result of its passage in the US Congress.

Having said that, the Pakistanis want to defeat the Taliban but at the same time they want to get out of America's influence as well. They would like to defeat the Taliban with a Pakistani strategy, not with a "US plan". They dislike Talibanisation and they also dislike the Americanization of the world. US forces are present in Afghanistan for the last eight years but there is no peace there. On the other side, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been much successful in defeating terrorism over the last few years. Pakistan can learn more from Saudi Arabia and Iran than US.

President Zardari and Karzai will meet Iranian President Ahmadinejad in Tehran on May 19. Iran has recently built a long wall on its borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan to stop illegal movement of militants and smugglers. Pakistan and Afghanistan can learn a lot from Iran and they must agree to establish a proper border on the 2,500-kilometers-long otherwise porous border which allows easy movement for both the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Also the grand cleric of the Al-Haram Mosque in Makkah will soon visit Pakistan and he is likely to tell the Pakistani people that suicide bombing is not permitted in Islam. Such a statement will be more helpful than US dollars for Pakistan. The time has come for Pakistan to come up with a strategy to defeat the Taliban with the help of friends in the east. And the ironic thing is that Pakistan's friends in the west will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this success.

It is time that President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani called a national conference on security where they should invite all political leaders and other stake-holders. They should reach a consensus on how to tackle and defeat terrorism, get it approved from parliament and then implement it as soon as possible. This policy will give a moral and political boost to our security forces. This policy should also reject US drone attacks on Pakistani territory outright.

The truth is that our security forces have already given the Taliban a tough time to in the last one week. I hope that they will clear all the major towns and cities of Swat valley in the coming few days. After defeating the Taliban in Swat, we have to concentrate on other areas and start huge development work in our tribal areas. Our American friends have killed hundreds of innocents in these areas, now we have to give them schools and hospitals to win their hearts and minds.

And now back to little Malalai, whom I just spoke to again on the telephone just a little while ago. She has migrated to Peshawar from Swat like thousands of other Swatis. The total number of internally displaced people may reach half a million in the coming days. All journalists also left Mingora on May 7 anticipating street battles between the Taliban and the security forces. It will be a great challenge, not only for the government but the whole of Pakistan. All of us have a responsibility to look after our brothers and sisters leaving the troubled valley because they have sacrificed, not only to save their own lives but to save the future of Pakistan.

Many people are disappointed but little Malalai is not. She told me on the phone: "Uncle, don't worry, we will win this time, I will be back to Swat again, I will go to my school again, I will become a doctor one day and I will change the fate of my people".
Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11. His new book about OBL is due to appear in Britain, later this year.

This article was first published at The News International