On a cloudless day in a large field in Aurakzai Tribal Agency, six thousand heavily armed militants gather. Sixty gunmen wearing suicide jackets in case of attack guard the perimeter of the field.[1] The leader of the group is Maulana Hakimullah, a deputy leader of the Terik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) headed by Baituallah Mehsud. The latter is now the most prominent Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal belt, and a prime suspect in the murder of Benazir Bhutto. The date is 9 May 2008.

Maulana Hakimullah excites the crowd consisting of men and boys aged 13 to 75 by telling them that the Americans are killing innocent Afghans. He asks, "Are we to stand by and let it happen?" to the roar of, "No" from the crowd. [2] He tells them that the next target will be them. After a rabble-rousing speech, he asks who wants to perform jihad in Afghanistan. The entire audience say they do. He tells them that they have no planes or artillery weapons, in fact very little firepower. He tells them that they only really have their bodies to make into live bombs.