For a good rundown of the Peace Jirga among the Pashtun tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan please stop by Crumbling Spires. This is a lead in to the Grand Jirga, or Jirga Loya that will include government and tribal leaders from both countries, and it looks to be a good start.
We should respect the willingness of tribal leaders to recognize this problem, and help them take it as their own, even though the Taliban is fighting back by killing and maiming those leaders when they can. The Pashtuns have pride and independence that is ancient, it precedes the coming of Islam to their land, and in many ways Pakistan is like the brawling frontier of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th century.
It’s dawning on many Islamic leaders that extremism and terrorism are their enemy as well as ours, and it’s heartening to see signs such as this.
Â
