Terrorism

Anti-Pakistan Taliban militants shift attentions to NATO in Afghanistan

Jamil Bhatti
Thursday, 16-June-2011

 

ISLAMABAD: A number of small militant groups linked with the Pakistani Taliban have reportedly stopped their activities against Pakistan and are also urging their fellow groups to shift their attention to Afghanistan, where the U.S. will probably materialize its earlier announcement to reduce its military presence and Pakistan will possibly appear as a big player, well placed and reliable sources told Xinhua.

Sources, on condition of anonymity, revealed that the militant groups reached this decision with a thought that if they carry on attacks in Pakistan they might not be allowed to be part of the next Afghan government setup for which Pakistan has been trying to convince the Afghan Taliban to be its part.

This big shift in the policy and strategy of the militants is more than surprising for many because these diehard elements materialized hundreds of terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil after American invasion in Afghanistan, which also left more than 35,000 Pakistanis dead and thousands of others injured.

The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have been terming such attacks as reactionary attempts to Pakistani support to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan by providing NATO supply routes from the southern Karachi port to the northwestern Pak-Afghan border, giving intelligence information about militants and allegedly facilitating U.S. drone strikes in northwest Pakistan.

Sources said that some important personalities, who have good influence on militants, are also busy in persuading Hakimullah Mehsud, chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to understand that their original target is not in Pakistan but in Afghanistan.

Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar, who once showed detachment from the Pakistani Taliban in a written statement after their anti- Pakistan activities, especially the attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, once again sent his clear message to Mehsud and other militants saying that, "Your original target is NATO forces in Afghanistan not Pakistani forces or common people, don't waste your powers at wrong place, be wise and vigilant we are near to victory," the sources said.

A majority of the defense analysts and experts in Pakistan agree to one point that the Afghan Taliban never became anti- Pakistan because it was Pakistan who first helped them to take over the Afghan government and then recognize them in the mid- 1990s.

After this important development the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for most suicide attacks, either have halted such attacks or stopped claiming their responsibility.

Taliban militants showing reaction and anger over the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2 announced vigilant attacks in Pakistan especially on security forces to take the revenge.

In this row on May 13 dual suicide bomb attacks killed at least 98 people and injured over 100 in the country's northwestern Charsadda district, then on May 22 four militants armed with automatic weapons broke into the Pakistan navy air base in Karachi and killed 10 security personnel and destroyed Pakistani forces' premier anti-submarine attack jet, the U.S.-made P-3C Orion worth 80 million dollars.

Both attacks were loudly claimed by the Pakistani Taliban but the group's detachment with recent two suicide attacks - first in Peshawar city on June 11 that killed 39 people and second on June 13 in Islamabad which killed two - hinted that something has been prohibiting militants to claim or materialize such activities.

The May 22 attack on the Pakistan navy base dragged heavy pressure on the Pakistani army to launch a long time demanded and awaited military operation against militants hiding in North Waziristan but Pakistan showed reluctance for any imminent move.

Pakistan's recent moves in the area by withdrawing its forces from some areas by closing check points, reopening Cadet College Razmak and also showing hints to launch the 5 billion rupee (58.8 million dollar) Bannu Ghulam Khan Highway project also dimmed the chances of any possible operation in near future.

Defense analysts said Pakistan cannot afford such operation at a time when U.S.-led NATO forces are searching ways to leave the region because after such withdrawal Pakistan will need friends among militants to stabilize and secure its 2,640-kilometer-long western mountainous border with Afghanistan.

"It will be a suicide if Pakistan takes such step because in North Waziristan a majority of the hiding militants are pro- Pakistan, no doubt anti-Pakistan militants are also operating from there but I am sure our decision makers will not like to lose many friends to finish one enemy," Pakistan's former chief of Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) General (retired) Hamid Gul told Xinhua.

According to reliable sources, the U.S. has been trying different channels for negotiations with the Afghan Taliban on different possible future setups in Afghanistan including one option of giving the country's southern part to Taliban control and the rest to pro-American groups. This option, reportedly, was tabled before Mullah Omar but he rejected it with reasons that this formula will disintegrate the state and also allow American presence in the region.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent visit to Pakistan on June 10 to 11 was also part of the reconciliation process to make the Afghan Taliban part of the Afghan government.

Leader of the opposition in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Akram Khan Durrani, discussing the inside story of Karzai's visit, said that the United Nations was about to recognize the Afghan Taliban as a political force after removing the "Afghan Taliban" name from its list of terrorist organizations.

Durrani, like many other politicians and experts, logically reasoned the Pakistani soft corner for some militant groups saying, "If Karzai and America can negotiate with the Afghan Taliban then why cannot Pakistan talk with the local (militant) groups?"

Afghanistan's former president, professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, aged and respected among circles, also visited Pakistan with Karzai and held many sideline meetings with Pakistan's top security officials and religious leaders who can facilitate reconciliation talks.

The U.S. government reportedly has assured that it can accept some tough demands of Taliban on condition if they (Afghan Taliban) announced their indifference with al-Qaida.

Pakistani experts believed that after nine years of war in Afghanistan all the stake holders have seen the failure of their claims and hopes and have realized the facts about the war according to their own interests.

The U.S. has become aware of that it cannot defeat the Taliban and similarly the Taliban have known that it is practically hard for them to defeat foreign troops in Afghanistan, or recapture the entire country.

But Taliban's recent strategy to have negotiations on one side and urging scattered militant to be active in Afghanistan gave hints to Taliban's plans to increase attacks on foreign troops to speed up their withdrawal process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

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