Pakistani troops continue to fight Taliban in Bajur. Earlier Wednesday they succeeded in taking back a key town in the district.

“We have taken control of Dagar town and an operation by the ground forces is under way,” a senior military officer told AFP.

“Early morning Wednesday heliborne forces successfully landed at Dagar and surrounding areas and secured Dagar, headquarters of Buner district,” the military added in a statement. Dagar is Bajur’s capital, and has 25,000 inhabitants.

The military launched a major operation against the Taliban Tuesday, after the extremist organization had spread from the Swat Valley into Bajur and was nearing the country’s capital Islamabad.

Earlier this year, in an attempt to pacify the Taliban, Islamabad agreed to enforce Islamic Sharia law in Swat and its surrounding districts in the Malakand region.

The pacification attempt failed, however. Instead of being happy with what they got, up to 500 Taliban entered Buner. The military was forced to react, for the group was coming too close the capital.

It has become rather obvious that pacifying the Taliban does not work. They will not accept anything less than total domination. The military and civilian government of Pakistan should act accordingly: the goal should be to wipe the group out. Push them back into Swat first, destroy them next.