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Pak Army still needs old Taliban `strategic assets' to counter India in Afghan backyard | The Pakistan military believes the Americans and the British
will withdraw from Afghanistan - and when they do, they will need old Taliban
friends such as Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin to minimize the influence
of India in its Afghan backyard. Several key Taliban figures are protected by
the Pakistan Army, which still regards them as "strategic assets". These "assets"
continue to organize attacks on NATO forces from Waziristan, unmolested or challenged
by the Pakistan Army, reports The Telegraph. It is for this reason that Islamabad
has turned a blind eye to the presence of Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura, the ruling
council that coordinates the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan from a hideout
close to the Balochistan state capital. Although Pakistan's military chiefs have
been talking about an "imminent" assault since last June, all the evidence has
pointed to deep reluctance to launch a massive ground offensive they believe will
provoke an overwhelming backlash with suicide bombings and fidayeen commando attacks
throughout the country. It was the Taliban's new leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, who
finally forced a decision upon the army when his militants launched a daring commando
raid into the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. Just 10 fidayeen gunmen shot
their way into the GHQ, seized 42 hostages, and killed 14 soldiers and civilians
in a 22-hour siege. The real humiliation for the army is that most of these raids
were shown, shot by shot, on live television news channels. Hakimullah's challenge
could not have been more forceful or more public. Hakimullah's onslaught questioned
the military's invincibility, and army chief, General Ashfaq Kiyani, could not
let that challenge pass. |
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