Monday, October 29, 2012

Battered Taliban on the retreat

Swat militants’ request for help was declined by the Afghan Taliban, claiming non-interference policies

The Taliban in Pakistan are on the retreat. They suffered heavy losses and now reportedly sought support from Afghan Taliban to carry on their battle against the Pakistan army.

In an article published last week in Pakistan’s national English daily The News, it was reported that Afghan Taliban declined a request for help from the militants in Swat “by reminding them of their policy of non-interference in Pakistan’s affairs.”

“A senior Afghan Taliban official, requesting anonymity, contacted The News from an undisclosed location to confirm that they were approached by the Swat militants for help in their fight against Pakistan’s armed forces,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, a veteran journalist who has written extensively on Taliban reported.

“We told them that the Afghan Taliban have a standard policy of not interfering in Pakistan’s affairs. We reiterated our policy and requested the Swat Taliban not to involve us in Pakistan’s internal matters,” the Afghan Taliban official is reported to have said. While the claim that Afghan Taliban’s “standard policy” not to interfere in Pakistan’s internal matters is ridiculous since Afghan Taliban have been continuously interfering in Pakistan through porous Pak-Afghan borders, it does indicate that militants in Pakistan are on the retreat and the operation launched by the Pakistan army against them is now bearing fruit.

Security forces on September 6 killed 33 militants, destroyed six vehicles and two terrorist training camps and seven hideouts through helicopter gunship in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber Agency. Most of the attacks were reportedly carried out in Naree Baba and Tharkho Kas areas where the banned Lashkar-e-Islam group is believed to have set up private jails and training camps.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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