A fresh look at Swat

Published July 6, 2011
Pakistani shopkeeper Muhammad Karim arranging compact disks at his shop in Mingora. It has been more than two years since the Taliban roamed Pakistan's Swat valley with impunity and threatened to kill him, but Mohammad Karim is still scared when he remembers how they paralysed life.
Pakistani shopkeeper Muhammad Karim arranging compact disks at his shop in Mingora. It has been more than two years since the Taliban roamed Pakistan's Swat valley with impunity and threatened to kill him, but Mohammad Karim is still scared when he remembers how they paralysed life.
Pakistani soldiers ride on the flatbed of a pickup truck during a patrol in Mingora.
Pakistani soldiers ride on the flatbed of a pickup truck during a patrol in Mingora.
A Pakistani youth sells donuts in Mingora.
A Pakistani youth sells donuts in Mingora.
Pakistani Corps Commander, 11-Corps, Lt. Gen  Asif Yasin Malik (L) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar (R) attend the inauguration of the three-day 'Genesis and Causes of Radicalisation in Pakistan' seminar in Saidu Sharif town in Swat valley.
Pakistani Corps Commander, 11-Corps, Lt. Gen Asif Yasin Malik (L) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar (R) attend the inauguration of the three-day 'Genesis and Causes of Radicalisation in Pakistan' seminar in Saidu Sharif town in Swat valley.
Pakistani men who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation center of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil.
Pakistani men who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation center of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil.
Pakistani youths, who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation. centre of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil of Swat valley.
Pakistani youths, who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation. centre of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil of Swat valley.
Pakistani men who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation centre of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil of Swat valley.
Pakistani men who worked under Taliban attend a class at the army-run de-radicalisation centre of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil of Swat valley.
Bacha Wali (L), a Pakistani youth who worked under Taliban is attended by a psychiatrist at the army-run de-radicalisation center of Mishal School.
Bacha Wali (L), a Pakistani youth who worked under Taliban is attended by a psychiatrist at the army-run de-radicalisation center of Mishal School.

Taliban militants led by cleric Mullah Fazlullah took control of the scenic Swat valley in 2007 but the army retook Swat after launching a major offensive against the Taliban in 2009 which displaced an estimated two million people. Now the  army-run "de-radicalisation" center of Mishal School in Barikot tehsil of Swat valley,  started last year, seeks to help hundreds of children and teens endangered by the Taliban, who ruled Swat before the military drove out the insurgents in 2009. These young boys are used as “walking bombs” by the Taliban to target security forces, government employees and ideological opponents in the tribal areas and elsewhere in the country. -Photos by AFP

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