World / Pakistan Pakistan Says It's Close to Swat Victory By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff Posted May 31, 2009 12:31 PM CDT Copied In this 2007 photo, then-Lt. Gen. Syed Athar Ali, Director General, Joint Staff Pakistan, left, stands with Adm. Timothy Keating, center. Ali predicts that Swat Valley fighting will end shortly. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy) Pakistan’s defense secretary says the army will crush Taliban militants in the Swat Valley within days, the BBC reports. Just "5% to 10% of the job" is left, Syed Athar Ali told an Asian forum, though an army spokesman declined to give an actual timeline. Meanwhile, 40 rebels and four soldiers were killed in fighting near the Afghan border. (More Pakistan stories.) Report an error