ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — This war-ravaged nation has turned a corner and is now serious about crushing the Pakistani Taliban, U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke said Friday, yet the need is also growing for displaced Pakistanis to return home and rebuild their lives.
Ending a three-day visit to Pakistan, Holbrooke, the Obama administration's envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said he saw a population that fully grasps the gravity of the threat posed by Taliban militancy -- a dramatic shift, he said, from how people here previously viewed the issue.
And though the U.S. has criticized the military for lacking resolve in combating militants, Holbrooke said he was convinced that Pakistan's leaders and commanders were intent on completely eliminating Taliban fighters.
But Holbrooke said gains can be lasting only if Pakistan and the international community focus on the next crucial phase -- reconstruction -- so the estimated 3 million people displaced by the fighting can return safely to the lives they once led.
"The real test is how quickly the refugees will be able to get back to their homes," Holbrooke said at a news conference here in the Pakistani capital. "The reconstruction bill will be very large, at least as large as the humanitarian bill that we are facing now. But having turned the corner, it's going to be essential to consolidate the gains."
The challenges Pakistan will face as it embarks on the task of returning normality to people's lives were underscored Friday afternoon, when a suicide bomb attack killed 38 people gathered at a mosque in the volatile Upper Dir district.
It was a sober reminder that violence has not waned despite sizable military gains against the Taliban militants. Moreover, efforts to return the displaced to their hometowns and restore physical and social infrastructure are likely to be hindered by suicide bombings and ambushes on police. The bomber detonated the explosives outside a mosque in the village of Hayagay Shergi as worshipers were preparing to go inside for prayers, residents said. At least 14 of the 38 killed were children, local authorities said; 14 people were injured.
Two months ago, tribal elders organized a militia to oust Taliban fighters from the area, residents said.
The attack occurred a day after security forces arrested three aides of Sufi Mohammed, a radical cleric whose son-in-law is Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, the local Taliban's leader in Swat, who remains at large.
