Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quershi has asked the US to help Islamabad fight the Taliban, saying his government is "very determined to eliminate sanctuaries of the extremists on its soil".
Blaming Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence for the killing of Osama bin Ladin, the Tehrike Taliban Pakistan has vowed to avenge the death the Al Qaeda chief. Both the United States and Pakistan are enemies, but Taliban's prime target is Pakistan, as without its help the West could not operate in Abbottabad.
Making a distinction between some violent extremist groups and others is counterproductive, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday told Pakistan that the Taliban's safe havens along the Af-Pak border have to be eliminated or both nations would suffer "more lethal and brazen attacks".
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among six militants killed in a US drone strike on Friday in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
'Throughout the nearly 20-year US-led war, State sponsorship from Pakistan has been a constant.'
America's Central Intelligence Agency has taken its war against Taliban and the Al Qaeda from the mountainous Af-Pak border region to the bases in Pakistan's Peshawar and Quetta cities, a media report said on Thursday. The report by the New York Times said that the agencies that have previously shared a 'tormented relationship', are now working on the several reconnaissance missions together.
The Obama administration has said it is supportive of the peace talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban, but asserted that there is no change in its position that this requires a renunciation of Al Qaeda, following Afghan law and renouncing violence.
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.
Pakistan has informed the United States that it is ready to facilitate its peace talks with Taliban, but it must not be blamed in case of failure, as it does not spoon-feed the militant group, a media report said on Sunday.
A top Pakistani tribal leader has vowed to wipe out the feared warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who has pushed Pakistan close to collapse. 30-year-old Qari Zainuddin, the leader of Taliban tribesmen opposed to Baitullah, said he had mobilised 3,000 armed followers and will attempt to wipe out the Pakistani Taliban chief and drive his al-Qaeda supporters from the country.
Two commandos of the special forces were also killed in the rescue operation that was launched after negotiations between the government and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants to end the hostage crisis failed.
'Decline of the UN did not start with the Trump administration. It has been happening over the last two decades or more.'
An audio tape may be circulated to prove the claim.
They are also being helped to procure arms from Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, a Newsweek report said.
If rapid Talibanisation of Pakistan continues, the next generation of the world's most sophisticated terrorists will be born, indoctrinated, and trained in the nuclear-armed Pakistan, an American think tank on Tuesday said in a report.
Mullah Dadullah Akhund is trying to outdo slain al-Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in viciousness and cruelty
The Taliban will view India through the eyes of the ISI and can be relied upon to undertake hostile actions against this country, warns Virendra Kapoor.
Haji Omar Khan, a lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early on Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
According to one American analyst, the "house that was struck was owned by a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani," who is now the interior minister in the Taliban government in Kabul.
Two top United States lawmakers have called for "aggressive steps" by America to disrupt operations of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, saying that Al Qaeda group was responsible for recent surge in attacks in Afghanistan.
As terrorism cannot be fought piecemeal, the international community must provide 'appropriate responses,' including security enforcement and economic and developmental strategies that rapidly bring the benefits of governance and development to people in the worst-affected districts, India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen told the Security Council.
Specially designated global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a reward of $10 million US bounty on his head, is the acting interior minister while his uncle -- Khalil Haqqani -- has been named as acting minister for refugees.
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Taliban said the operation has been named after its deceased leader Mullah Omar.
India and the US joined the global community on Tuesday in backing Afghan government's efforts to involve Taliban elements in the peace process but made it clear that amnesty should only be offered to those who had no links with the Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
India is worried about Pakistan getting the Taliban to ignite trouble in Kashmir, observes Ramesh Menon.
Officials said unidentified men attacked a security check-post on Friday night near Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, injuring security personnel.
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
While the United States has already shown dissatisfaction over Pakistan's claims that Dr Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped the Central Intelligence Agency track down and kill Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, had relation with militants, the Pakistan Taliban have not only rejected the reports of any links with him, but has also said that the imprisoned doctor is 'wajib-ul-qatal' (one that deserve death penalty), as he helped the US to kill bin Laden
Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has urged the United States to strike a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan on the pattern of the Swat pact, saying that the real threat was from the Al Qaeda. "The only way forward is dialogue, which is what (Afghan President) Hamid Karzai is finally saying. You have to start talking to the Taliban," Khan said. He warned that US President Barack Obama's Afghan policy is 'exactly the same way as the mess' made by Bush.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar leaked the whereabouts of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to American investigators, the Sunday Mirror reported.
The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda and wants its army to pursue the militants into north Waziristan.
The Pakistani Taliban on Friday targetted a United States consulate convoy in Peshawar with a car bomb killing one person and injuring over a dozen others, the first attack on Americans in the country since Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death.
A force of about 700 US and Afghan troops flown into the area by Black Hawk helicopters seized the mountainous high ground in Kunar provinces, Marwara districts and launched a swoop pre-dawn on Sunday on unsuspecting 200 insurgents camped in the area.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked by US Congressmen if the US had explore the possibility of northwest India for counter terrorism capabilities in Afghanistan. Blinken's remarks on India assume great importance, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
In a startling revelation, an Army intelligence report had recently claimed that Jammu and Kashmir was facing a clear threat from groups of Kashmiri youths, who have been trained by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to carry out terror activities on Indian soil.
It is regrouping under a new commander in\n\nthe remote Khyber area of Pakistan.
