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US gives Pakistan one month for NWA action Seeks arrest of five top militants
Irshad Ahmad Arif
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
LAHORE: Allocation of $113 billion during the current fiscal year and $107 billion for the next fiscal year as the war expenses is the main reason for the US decision to begin pulling back from Afghanistan. However, Pakistan has been given one-month deadline, till July 2011 -- the date announced by President Barack Obama for starting withdrawal of the Nato forces from Afghanistan, to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan Agency.
Pakistan security forces have been asked to capture five most wanted al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in this period, either in a solitary or a joint military action. These terrorist commanders include Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Ilyas Kashmiri and Atia Abdur Rehman. The US demands have set alarm bells ringing in the Pakistani civil and military circles. Until now, security forces of Pakistan have been pursuing the policy of reluctance to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan.
Sources say the Haqqani network, believed to be based in North Waziristan, had not been any threat to Pakistan on the one hand, and on the other hand, it had been a vital contact between the Pakistan intelligence agencies and the Afghan Taliban.
Another factor is the presence of some very important pro-government tribal groups in the area, including Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadar groups, who have helped the Pakistani security forces keep the anti-government tribal fighters, including the Wazirs, at bay.
In the past years, Baitullah Mehsud, and later on, his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, launched a war against the Pakistani security forces, with the help of the Mehsud tribe, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and some other sectarian groups. The killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2 strengthened the US forces pull-out decision, and various political advisers like US Vice President Joe Biden, have advised President Obama not to go against the withdrawal roadmap, announced by him in 2009, if he wanted to save the US economy from disastrous effects.
Increasing pressure on Pakistan before starting forces withdrawal from the region is multipurpose from the American point of view. The killing or arrest of one or two more most wanted terrorists by the Pakistani and US security forces will definitely boost the morale of the American people as well as its troops going back to their country. It will also shut the critics up who, otherwise, might say the withdrawal decision was taken by an exhausted nation and a defeated military.
On the other hand, the Haqqani network and the al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders, allegedly based in Pakistan, and guiding the Afghan Taliban to fight the foreign forces, would not claim the US withdrawal their success.
The US forces fear that the pull-out would boost the morale of the afghan Taliban, and the Haqqani network could launch fatal attacks from Afghan border areas of North Waziristan to destroy law and order in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan is faced with a different kind of dilemma.
The terror genie let out of the bottle with the launching of the South Waziristan operation and the Lal Masjid action could not have been put back so far, despite intensive and aggressive military offensive, US drone attacks and a large number of arrests in throughout the country.
_____________
The News
Capture Ilyas Kashmiri and Mullah Omar by July: US to Pakistan
Irshad Ahmad Arif
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
LAHORE: Allocation of $113 billion during the current fiscal year and $107 billion for the next fiscal year as the war expenses is the main reason for the US decision to begin pulling back from Afghanistan. However, Pakistan has been given one-month deadline, till July 2011 -- the date announced by President Barack Obama for starting withdrawal of the Nato forces from Afghanistan, to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan Agency.
Pakistan security forces have been asked to capture five most wanted al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in this period, either in a solitary or a joint military action. These terrorist commanders include Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Ilyas Kashmiri and Atia Abdur Rehman. The US demands have set alarm bells ringing in the Pakistani civil and military circles. Until now, security forces of Pakistan have been pursuing the policy of reluctance to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan.
Sources say the Haqqani network, believed to be based in North Waziristan, had not been any threat to Pakistan on the one hand, and on the other hand, it had been a vital contact between the Pakistan intelligence agencies and the Afghan Taliban.
Another factor is the presence of some very important pro-government tribal groups in the area, including Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadar groups, who have helped the Pakistani security forces keep the anti-government tribal fighters, including the Wazirs, at bay.
In the past years, Baitullah Mehsud, and later on, his successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, launched a war against the Pakistani security forces, with the help of the Mehsud tribe, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and some other sectarian groups. The killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2 strengthened the US forces pull-out decision, and various political advisers like US Vice President Joe Biden, have advised President Obama not to go against the withdrawal roadmap, announced by him in 2009, if he wanted to save the US economy from disastrous effects.
Increasing pressure on Pakistan before starting forces withdrawal from the region is multipurpose from the American point of view. The killing or arrest of one or two more most wanted terrorists by the Pakistani and US security forces will definitely boost the morale of the American people as well as its troops going back to their country. It will also shut the critics up who, otherwise, might say the withdrawal decision was taken by an exhausted nation and a defeated military.
On the other hand, the Haqqani network and the al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders, allegedly based in Pakistan, and guiding the Afghan Taliban to fight the foreign forces, would not claim the US withdrawal their success.
The US forces fear that the pull-out would boost the morale of the afghan Taliban, and the Haqqani network could launch fatal attacks from Afghan border areas of North Waziristan to destroy law and order in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan is faced with a different kind of dilemma.
The terror genie let out of the bottle with the launching of the South Waziristan operation and the Lal Masjid action could not have been put back so far, despite intensive and aggressive military offensive, US drone attacks and a large number of arrests in throughout the country.
_____________
The News
Capture Ilyas Kashmiri and Mullah Omar by July: US to Pakistan
