Pakistan's New Military Offensive in Kurram and Khyber

[kas786]

I read somewhere that FATA and FANA still have too much autonomy and Pakistani government's little interference and some people even advocate provincial status for FATA. Can any Pakistani member tell me if too much autonomy is also responsible for the insurgency in the region.

Hasn't it always had too much autonomy? We never had problems before. The root of the problem are the foreigners who are funding and supporting this insurgency. But then again, we can't just point our fingers to the outsiders because it has been proven time and again that we're stuck with incompetent leaders.

 

[Splurgenxs]

Pakistan has really locked itself out from any diplomatic process or join operations with its neighboring countries and America....

Longterm-
Pakistan either now endures it and keeps taking punishment for 10 more years while steadily improving there economy and funding to properly fortify the porous border with Afghanistan.

Short term-
Swallow its pride(PK is not in the position to be prideful in the first place)and vigorously lobby for greater diplomatic understanding and peace with AF and America ... and truly denounce all forms of Islamist radicalism (not just the once against ur own country)and work with a true joint effort to eliminate all dens for recruitment and indoctrination.

But sadly this needs a synergy between the Defense and the Govt..
Im sorry to say Pakistan is royally screwed.

 

[CENTCOM]

The terrorists and militants who are fighting the Pakistani forces are also fighting us across the border. They are our enemies as well. Calling them “American sponsored army” without presenting an iota of proof is not only dishonest but trying to deceive the common reader as well. NATO and the US troops have targeted these militants and so have the brave Pakistani troops across the border. We commend the Pakistani military, who have been fighting these terrorists and our condolences go to the families of fallen soldiers.

The slowdown in our relationship has only helped the terrorists and militants who have stepped up their attacks. It is in everyone’s interest that we resolve our differences and get back to the task of bringing peace in the region. That can only be achieved when militant’s bases on both sides are destroyed on both sides of the border.


Maj David Nevers
DET-United States Central Command
U.S. Central Command

 

[Windjammer]

Jet strike kills 20 Taliban in Orakzai: officials

PESHAWAR: Warplanes pounded militant hideouts in the northwestern tribal region of Orakzai before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 20 Taliban insurgents, security officials said.

The jets targeted hideouts in the tribal district and at least four compounds were hit, they said, in the latest surge of fighting between government security forces and militants in the Afghan border areas.

“At least 20 Taliban militants were killed in the bombing,” a military official in Peshawar said.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the air strikes.


The hideouts belonged to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commanders Mulla Tufan and Commander Moheyuddin, a security official said.

There are reports that Moheyuddin may have been killed in the bombing, he said.

A military official in Peshawar said “four hideouts have been destroyed and the death toll may go up”.

Jet strike kills 20 Taliban in Orakzai: officials | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

 

[Kazhugu]

actually how come everytime a drone strikes they are innocent villagers and every time a f-16 strikes they all become Taliban..

isn't there a chance of collateral damage through f-16 strikes also....conventional logic says so...

 

[Windjammer]

actually how come everytime a drone strikes they are innocent villagers and every time a f-16 strikes they all become Taliban..

isn't there a chance of collateral damage through f-16 strikes also....conventional logic says so...

Some times reading the news item does help, in this case, the jets attacked militant hideouts most probably using LGBs for precision strikes unlike the drones which often target people in built up areas.

The jets targeted hideouts in the tribal district and at least four compounds were hit, they said, in the latest surge of fighting between government security forces and militants in the Afghan border areas.

 

[Big Boss]

Pakistani Soldiers, Taliban Battle, Leaving 60 Dead

PARACHINAR, Pakistan— Fighting between Pakistani soldiers and Taliban militants over a strategic mountaintop in northwestern Pakistan has killed more than 60 people, a government official said on Tuesday.

The battle first started a week ago when government troops seized the top of Jogi mountain in the Kurram tribal area from militants, sparking clashes that killed six soldiers and 20 insurgents, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator.

The militants retaliated on Tuesday by attacking the soldiers who were trying to hold the location, touching off another round of fighting that killed 10 troops and more than 30 insurgents, said Mr. Khan. The area is home to militants loyal to Pakistani Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud.

The military began an offensive in Kurram in July 2011 and declared victory about a month later, but violence has continued.

A similar process has taken place throughout Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border. The military has launched a series of operations against the Pakistani Taliban in the past few years, and has often declared victory only to see fighting flare up again.

The Pakistani Taliban have killed thousands of people throughout the country in suicide bombings and other attacks. The group aims to topple the Pakistani government, partly because of its alliance with the U.S.

The militants are allied with the Afghan Taliban, but the latter group has focused its attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, at least 10 people were shot in the past 24 hours in the southern city of Karachi, said Sharfuddin Memon, a security adviser for the government of Sindh province, where Karachi is the capital.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city and has a long history of political, ethnic and sectarian violence.

The most recent deaths included two granddaughters of Akbar Bugti, a nationalist leader in southwestern Baluchistan province who was killed during a military operation in 2006 ordered by former President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr. Bugti's death has helped fuel a violent insurgency in Baluchistan against the government.

Pakistani Soldiers, Taliban Battle, Leaving 60 Dead - WSJ.com

 

[Kazhugu]

dude..pgms are not made of magic....they just ensure that the bomb correctly reaches the intended target...the drones arre even more precise than the pgms..they hover over the target, pick it up on cam and then send the missile (note this is missile, not a bomb..so the accuracy will be comparable or better than the pgms)

my query is how come all those killed are militants....they may well be civilian tribesmen mistaken for militants as they might have been carrying arms...

again conventional logic says fighting coin ops with fighters will definitely cause huge collateral damage...

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Good job! kill the terrorist scums!

 

[Don Jaguar]

actually how come everytime a drone strikes they are innocent villagers and every time a f-16 strikes they all become Taliban..

isn't there a chance of collateral damage through f-16 strikes also....conventional logic says so...

And why do indians always cheer on a air strike by U.S drone and only see the collateral damage when pakistani F-16 strikes?

 

[Windjammer]

dude..pgms are not made of magic....they just ensure that the bomb correctly reaches the intended target...the drones arre even more precise than the pgms..they hover over the target, pick it up on cam and then send the missile (note this is missile, not a bomb..so the accuracy will be comparable or better than the pgms)

my query is how come all those killed are militants....they may well be civilian tribesmen mistaken for militants as they might have been carrying arms...

again conventional logic says fighting coin ops with fighters will definitely cause huge collateral damage...

Seems you are keen to pluck things out of thin air.!
Had you been following the news, you would know that the attacks followed clashes between soldiers and militants over a strategic mountaintop in Kurram that killed over 60 people in the last week, hence, a very remote chance of a wedding party gathering in the vicinity. In fact it seems that the strike was even more successful than first reported as the figure now is over 30 scum bags wasted including a local commander.

Pakistani fighter jets bombed the hideouts of two militant commanders along the Afghan border Wednesday, killing up to 31 insurgents, government and security officials said.

One of those killed was reported to be a Pakistani Taliban leader in Orakzai region named Moin ud Din, said one security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

 

[Icarus]

actually how come everytime a drone strikes they are innocent villagers and every time a f-16 strikes they all become Taliban..

isn't there a chance of collateral damage through f-16 strikes also....conventional logic says so...

The Army evacuates people from the zone of operations BEFORE any armed conflict takes place. Only the volunteers for Lashkars and their families stay behind. That way we avoid any collateral damage. There has been only one case of collateral damage when PAF planes bombed a militant hideout and people from nearby villages came to see the carnage, flying an observation pass the pilots thought that they were militants trying to pull survivors and bombed it again. The COAS met with the elders of the effected Kukikhel clan and offered a traditional apology to them.

 

[Windjammer]

HUD footage from earlier PAF strikes on the militant hideouts.

 

[farhan_9909]

kill those bastards

they do belong to my tribe bt they are like pigs among other animals

 

[farhan_9909]

when i was in miranshah(2 weeks ago)
i was sitting next to a bearded man.a religious bt at the same time a uneducated person

i told him do you know Adam(pbuh) was born in sri lanka

he said have you gone nuts?
how the hell can Allah send his first prophet into a kafir's land(despite he dont knw that even according to religious point of view Adam(pbuh) was a first man on this earth and there were no kafir or muslim land that time)

he said if you repeat it again you are no less than kafir and strongly criticize me nt to repeat those words

this is what these peoples are like..they know Quran they pray namaz bt they at the same time take wrong info of the world most credible book "Quran PAK"