A resurgent Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley on Monday vowed to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility of laying down arms, following the implementation of Sharia in the region.The Sharia or Islamic law regime approved recently by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be confined to Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the Taliban wants the system to be enforced in other parts of Pakistan, Taliban spokesman said.
Suspected militants shot and killed a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader in the erstwhile Taliban stronghold of Swat in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, police said.
Regional States will be worried that the US's nascent engagement with the Taliban behind the fig leaf of humanitarian aid enables the return of US intelligence personnel to Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Mullah Fazlullah, the militant commander who ordered the assassination of teenage activist Malala Yusufzai, was today named by the Pakistani Taliban as its new chief to replace Hakimullah Mehsud, killed in a US drone strike last week.
Blaming the Pakistan government for the killing of its chief Hakimullah Mehsud, Taliban has warned that it "will soon start targeting" the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership for its alleged support to the United States in the region.
'The really striking thing is that the Taliban has suo moto presented to us certain firm benchmarks against which it expects us to hold to account the Taliban rulers's actions in the period ahead' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The meeting was attended by a group of Taliban leaders where JeM sought their support in 'India-Centric' operations. All states have been alerted to conduct security drills and keep anti-terror units on high alert.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Friday claimed the Taliban's decision to hold talks under Pakistan's Constitution has exposed the lobby that was deliberately maligning him with labels such as "Taliban Khan".
Once Mazar-i-Sharif falls, some isolate pockets of resistance may remain, which the Taliban would tackle through political work or coercion, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A key Pakistani Taliban commander involved in an assassination attempt on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been arrested in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, sources said on Wednesday.
Pakistan on Friday announced it will release former Afghan Taliban deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Saturday, meeting a long-standing demand of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to advance peace efforts in the war-ravaged country.
The army said that three terrorists were "neutralised while entering the base while the remaining three terrorists have been cornered/isolated due to timely and effective response by the troops".
The Pakistani Taliban has announced a month-long ceasefire to facilitate the resumption of peace talks suspended by the government over the recent execution of 23 troops.
The recent attacks in Pakistan's Punjab should be taken as warning shots of an impending battle which will further destabilise that country and the region.
The Biden administration expects the Modi government to continue to remain as its loyal camp follower even as Washington continues to act in self-interests, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan's six top commanders on Tuesday pledged allegiance to the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been vying for supremacy with Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In a surprise move, Pakistan's powerful intelligence chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed on Saturday dashed to Kabul, amidst the Taliban struggling to finalise and install an inclusive government in Afghanistan that would be acceptable to the international community.
Amid efforts by the concerned governments to hold peace talks with them, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban have said they would continue their "struggle" till "the Western inspired systems" of governance in both countries are overthrown.
India needs to be aware of the potentially catastrophic implications of the collapse of governing authority in Pakistan. A boost to fundamentalist forces in India's neighbourhood will have some serious consequences for the utility of nuclear deterrence in the subcontinent, says Harsh V Pant.
Hundreds of Afghan protesters, including women, took to the streets of Kabul on Tuesday, chanting 'death to Pakistan' and denouncing Islamabad's interference in Afghanistan and airstrikes by its jets in Panjshir province in support of the Taliban, according to a media report.
A Pakistani military helicopter carrying 11 foreigners crashed in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir on Friday, killing ambassadors of the Philippines and Norway and at least five others as the Taliban claimed responsibility for the downing of the chopper and said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was the target.
Amid increasing pressure from the Obama administration to blacklist the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Azam Tariq, the militant organisation's key spokesperson has said that "it makes no difference if the Americans blacklist the TTP or not, our war against the Jews and their 'friends' will remain forever".
The Pakistani Taliban on Monday vowed they would again target teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived an assassination attempt last year to become a frontrunner for the Nobel Peace prize.
It what further strengthens the Tehreik-e-Taliban Pakistan's direct involvement in the failed Times Square bombing plot, a federal indictment released earlier this week has revealed that the extremist outfit had paid $12,000 to Faisal Shahzad to plot the explosion at the busy commercial intersection.
At least 15 militants, including two Taliban commanders, were killed when US drones struck twice in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan on Tuesday.
At least 42 Taliban terrorists were killed in airstrikes by fighter jets and ground clashes in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, where a deadly ambush by militants at a check-post on Friday claimed the lives of four security personnel.
"We are still in a state of shock at the martyrdom of our deputy chief and there is no change in our decision of not talking to the government," Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said it is too premature to congratulate ourselves over the UN Security Council adopting a resolution on Afghanistan, and cautioned that the possible axis of China, Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a cause for worry.
'India has to ensure its borders are properly sealed and there is no infiltration from PoK.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Siddiqui was alive when the Taliban captured him. The Taliban verified Siddiqui's identity and then executed him, as well as those with him'
Taliban militants in the terror hotbed of North Waziristan have threatened the Pakistan government with a "big war" if the country's army launched any military operation in the region.
Ten people were killed on Monday when militants attacked the home of a provincial legislator's brother in Pakistan's restive north-western Swat valley even as the government banned the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Taliban militants fired a rocket at the home of the brother of Awami National Party legislator Waqar Ahmed Khan in Kabal sub-district, killing his brother, two nephews and seven security guards.
Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban could target Indian installations near the border areas, said Aditya Mishra, Inspector General (Frontier) of the Border Security Force.
An American drone strike on Tuesday killed at least nine Pakistani Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province
Burqa-clad Taliban militants on Monday stormed a police station used by local intelligence personnel at Bannu in northwest Pakistan and took several hostages, before security men stormed the building to end the siege. Four Taliban fighters were killed and another captured following a heavy exchange of fire.
The Pakistan army on Monday launched an all-out offensive using jets and tanks in the restive North Waziristan, killing nearly 184 Taliban fighters including foreigners, while six soldiers were killed in an IED blast, the first military casualties in the operation.
Ryan Wesley Routh, who authorities suspect was planning to attack the Republican presidential nominee as he played a round of golf, made these remarks to The New York Times.
'Every evidence we have in hand shows that IS-K cells have their roots in Talibs & Haqqani network particularly the ones operating in Kabul. Talibs denying links with ISIS is identical/similar to the denial of Pakistan on Quetta Shura. Talibs have learned very well from the master. #Kabul,' Saleh said in a tweet.
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