A DOZEN captive soldiers from the Pakistan army at Miranshah, North Waziristan Agency (NWA), were grimly decapitated and their severed heads were put on wooden spikes in the main bazaar of Miranshah so as to be displayed (May 8).

Is this dreadful story occurring in a different country? No, absolutely not. It is the same NWA which is becoming famous for the USA’s drone attacks, and it is the same NWA for which the Pakistan army does not allow US boots on this very ground. God knows what would happen to its population of 1.5 million and a few thousand Taliban if Pakistan allows US forces to do so. But so far, our security agencies have been resisting this pressure for the last five years.

Neither we are launching an operation against NWA nor are we allowing anybody to do so. Our long-term strategic interest should be rehabilitated.

The US is bound to stay in the region, thwarting our ambitions in the north and beyond. We are at a crossroads. We have to decide now whether we are with the US, which is against the so-called Taliban, or we are with the Taliban, which is against the US. Whatsoever we have to decide, we should decide soon because it is now the defining moment.

KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS Karachi