Well, if we go by the narrative in the newspapers in the US, Pakistan is crawling with bearded males & burqa-clad women and there is strong support for the Taliban in Pakistan. However, polls show a different story. Here is a recent Gallup poll (tip from Tabsir) that shows a continuing decline of Taliban popularity in both Pakistan and Afghanistan - but much more so in Pakistan:
In fact, the Taliban have lost support in all parts of the country - most strikingly in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) - the province where much of the battle with the Taliban is taking place. But note that the survey does not include the tribal FATA area where tribes sympathetic to the Taliban reside and where the military is engaged with the Taliban fighters. However, this area represents less than 5% of the population - so the overall results are not impacted.
And this data also shows that the shift in public opinion is not just a drop from thinking favorably to refusing to give an opinion-- positive perception of the Taliban is down while negative perception is up.
ReplyDeleteCheers to that. The Taliban did themselves in.
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