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Pakistan – already playing its role in war on terror
“We have made it very clear that if such an attack were to happen again, and if we could traced it back to Pakistan,...
The writer has served as head of the ISI and MI for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata ([email protected])
“We have made it very clear that if such an attack were to happen again, and if we could traced it back to Pakistan, there would be very severe consequences.” This recent statement by Hillary Clinton is not likely to help because threatening a country which is an ally of the war on terror may not be a very wise diplomatic move.
Faisal Shahzad may have been inspired by extremists, but the people at the helm of affairs in the US know that the Pakistani state has no role in the affair. Drones are already violating Pakistani air space, so the severe consequences hinted at might be the use of missile strikes against suspected targets inside Fata and the crossing of the border by Nato ground forces. Instead of considering this option, the US needs to evaluate the performance of its armed forces. After eight years of fighting, they have now realised that forces available in Afghanistan are not adequate to win a war against the Taliban.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s armed forces have achieved much more — they have also suffered more. Total coalition deaths in Afghanistan are over 1,700 while Pakistani casualties, both dead and wounded are more than 30,000 — over 21,600 civilians and more than 8,700 military personnel. They have lost their stronghold of South Waziristan and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as an organisation, has been crippled. For now it is unlikely it will be able to plan and execute global terrorist activities.
Mamoond Tehsil of Bajaur Agency is now in control of the local administration. Terrorists are still operating in North Waziristan, Orakzai, central Kurram, Mohmand and the Tirah area of Khyber Agency. Swat is returning to normalcy and as Orakzai is the only agency not bordering Afghanistan, local Taliban raised a force there, way back in 1998. Most of the terrorists, including Central Asians, who fled from South Waziristan, have taken refuge in this agency and in Tirah. They want an area under their control, where they can reorganise, regroup, train, establish and streamline system of provision of supplies and logistics. Orakzai provides just that and it is also a place where these people can move easily to from Tirah, Darra Adam khel; Kurram and North Waziristan. They are launching organised attacks on armed forces posts to regain ground control of some areas. However, operations in Orakzai and Kurram were in progress with hundreds of terrorists killed, by air and ground action, and the military recently claiming victory.
Military operations are the first phase in the fight against terrorism. The more important one is the strategic development of the areas, which are breeding grounds for militant extremists. In case such plan is not implemented, in a quick and transparent manner, the terrorists are likely to regain their lost ground and they may be more dangerous this time. The US and other western countries should help Pakistan in this task of reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 7th, 2010.
Reader Comments (28)
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Pakistan continues to play its role in the war on terror. We have no place of terrorism in our country and that have affected the financials of Pakistan as a major hit. The nation supports the Pak army to destroy the Taliban for good.Recommend
A breif, yet informative article to open many people’s eyes…i without any doubt agree with you Mr. Munir..we just hope that people who can really work on this r reading it.Recommend
EXCELLENT ARTICAL ,Recommend
Military operation is about eradicating terrorists. The second step should be the development of the local people and injecting the process of liberal and rational thinking in them.Recommend
i have been following Asad Munir’s articles and TV talk shows on Taliban and WAR on Terror, since 2006.He spoke about Taliban, once no one could dare, take their names even.At that time the media and public were pro Taliban.Being from that area, i know what he is talking about.Strategic development is a more important phase of war on terror, as rightly pointed out.I,ll request Asad to write a piece on AL Qaeda in Pakistan.The only observation i have about this article, is that the piece is sketchy and at places disjointed.Recommend
Being head of the two spy agencies for FATA,the writer must have played some role in creation of these terrorists.However his comparison of US and Pak Forces is valid.They have yet to clear any one Pashtun dominated area in Afghanistan,being there for more than nine years.The development should be undertaken by the donors,and not left to the bureaucracy.Recommend
ASAD MUNIR HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LOGICAL ANALYST ,GREAT AND INFORMATIVE ARTICALRecommend
local Taliban raised a force there, way back in 1998.
If a local Taliban force was raised way back in 1998, were the government and the armed forces negligent in their duty to nip the problem in the pud? Recommend
Great article Asad Uncle :) Recommend
Quite a read, very informative!Recommend
A well written piece by Asad Munir, The writer always makes in-depth analysis supported with facts and figures. Excellent, admirable and informative ArticleRecommend
The War on Terror also known as the Global War. People around the globe are viewing Pakistan as a terrorist state, however this is not the case at all.
The whole world is facing their own wars on terror. In the meantime, Pakistani Armed Forces has diligently been attempting to eradicate terrorism from Pakistan. These attempts have proved to be fairly violent, and horrible losses have resulted. Thousands of lives involved in the war on terror have been taken, including innocent civilians.
Pakistan is currently undergoing a crisis, Suicide bombs are now typical. Thousands of refugees have been forced to leave their homes in order to escape the dangers of this war against terrorism.
In addition, the economy is in a shatterable condition. We can see for ourselves that the chaos in Afghanistan has spilled into Pakistan. This turmoil has created much instability in our country. The neighbors of our country are taking unfair advantage of Pakistan’s fragile state.
Pakistan has surely done much to prevent the spreading of terrorism, which is described in the original article above, however another attempt that should be tried is the strengthening of our borders to prevent terrorist groups from contaminating the country.
In order to prevent further crisis, Pakistan not only has to strengthen its borders, but stabilize it’s government and unify the country as a whole alongside other nations against this war on terror. Recommend
this article is really an informative one, but with the help of your research work plz throw light on the strategies by which Pakistani govt. can overcome this severe Terrorists threat.Recommend
A very well written article by Mr.Asad as always. If we look back on the statement of Hilary Clinton we can always go back in time when the U.S. funded the Afghans with FIM-92 Stinger Missles to fight against the Russians and bring them down. The U.S. foreign policy known as the Reagan Doctrine, under which the U.S. expanded assistance beyond just the mujahideen and began also supporting other anti-communist resistance movements around the world.
The budget evolved from $5 Million to $500 Million in supporting the anti-communism budget from the CIA.
After their victory via the afghan it was proposed to support the afghans with Aid to make a proper schooling system and the starting budget for that was only $5 Million and was not approved from the authorities, hence sowing such a seed in which there was only hatred growing.
Only if they had focused on the development and education in afghan region would have ended up being a world with lesser terrorism.
Hence it is said : ” As you Sow, so shall you reap ”
U.S. please learn from your mistakes, and make sure you dont do it again.Recommend
Brig Asad is right on the spot in his analysis of the situation. The article is very well balanced and convincing. The most important point being his mention of the action after the first phase (military action) i.e. the strategic development of the areas. If that is not undertaken, when all the foreign forces depart from Afghanistan, we will all be back to square one within six month. Just negotiation and pack up will not work. There should be no shortcut to development and education if we all want to see that part of the world to return to normalcy. Recommend
Pertinent points Asad Shaib, Pakistan has suffered colossal losses in the war against terror, the successes too have been forthcoming gradually as many of the militant stronghold have been dismantled. However we need to look beyond the body bags and military offensive there isn’t much pride when you reclaim your own territory. The authors rightly points out towards the missing link of development and socio-economic reforms which can complement the achievements in South Waziristan, Orakzai and Swat. Recommend
@farah. I would agree with farah in the above comment. The handful do not reflect the moderate majority of people in the country. We condemn terrorist activities in all parts of the world.Recommend
A well written piece by Asad Munir, The writer always makes in-depth analysis supported with facts and figures. Excellent, admirable and informative ArticleRecommend
I was very afraid when heard the news that
a Jirga consisting on tribal chiefs was held
through which a offer extended to Talban for peace agreement with some precondition,
on the other hand had news American inclined to extend hand of friendship toward Talban it expelled me to silent for some time.
Nine years has passed, they are in field and fighting with super power inclining on compromise or agreement.
I dislike to pass through the aspects attributed to the clash but know offer of peace or agreement is a good idea should move forward.
According to the electronic and print media, rival faction is waiting the response that is expected from the super power.
Talban set some conditions in accordance with they want total withdrawal of foreign forces from the territory that is not acceptable to Karzai government
because he know that after repatriation he will be alone and too weak to face the Talban so he want to an agreement which provide him a total safety and the safer way out.
American have the same view,they don’t want Afghanistan that is country of its dead enimy to be slip from their hand and they will have to face the circumstances have already gone through.
It is not hearsay, it is an acceptable reality that Talban are burning in the hell of revenge, they want freedom and independent Afghanistan that is a dream,
nightmare as well.
At last,
all the parties concerned, with the help of the united nations European Union and Saudi Arabia, forgetting some bitter memories come to the negotiation table,
safety of Karzai,
time table of foreign forces withdrawal,
and independent of Afghanistan
will be the subject of peace talk .Recommend
Well written and illuminating article. Express Tribune has some very eminent writers–Fasih Zaka, Ayesha Siddiqa, Asad Munir. I am impressed. Recommend
This is a very informative article i appreciate your work.Recommend
Operation against these terrorist should have been conducted long time back,somewhere in 2004/2005.But then the whole media was pro Taliban.The Mullah wants power in the garb of Sharia.Imran Khan,JI and Sharifs,still do not realize the threat these terrorists are posing to this country.Army is doing a great job,much better than the Coalition forces in Afghanistan.There is a need to educate people about the ground realities,and thats what exactly Mr.Munir has done.Recommend
So now it is shifting to Southern Punjab and the name of MURIDKEY AND RIAWIND is also in the AIR.
if the ARMY now goes to to South Waziristan,them it could be Clifton, Defence…MAY BE Recommend
You ae right about the achievements of NATO forces in AFghanistan. The much trumpeted Marjah operation gave them the village of Marjah, nothing else. Compared to them Pakistan Army has cleared a much larger area. As far as the threat by Hillary Clinton, USA can not not control Afghanistan, opening another front will be its Waterloo. British Minister has given a statement that they are not in Afghanistan to educate the 13th century people. He may like to read about the conditions prevailing in UK in 13th centry, they were worse. No one asked you to educate them.Recommend
A very interesting Article. It only increased my thirst to know more about the Pakistan Army operations and the Taliban. Could you perhaps write an article on how the Taliban work or about their rank structure. Here’s how I believe they work. Local Commanders who have about twenty men or more contact the Taliban leadership and ask them for Tasks. They are then given a date for example 10th of the next month or whatever. On that date they are provided with arms, ammo, equipment (even shoes are known to be issued) and a target which can be an ambush on a Pakistan Army Convoy or a raid on a post. Once the task is accomplished, they are paid and told to come back in a month. For that one month they go R&R in Punjab.
I believe this might not be wrong because I personally visited Darawar fort around Feb 09. If anyone has been to the fort they will confirm that there is a mosqure right opposite to the main entrance to the fort. In the Balcony of the Mosque there were about 5 Taliban looking down at us as we were about to leave. They had bandoliers but without ammo or any weapons. Long beards, turbans, shalwars above ankles. Even the typical taliban issued brand, white shoes. Saw many others around the bus-adda of the town, which is the last major settlement before the vast stretches of desert leading to the Indian Border.
We exhanged a glance and then I drove away. All I could think of was that it was their R&R period before they got the next Task. I might be wrong, but this means most of them are mercinary fighters striving to make ends meet with a bit of religious motivation. It’s a well paid job!
In England the Torys have said they will cut on the annual foreign aid spending. I thought that by now they would be wise enough to understand that you can’t bake your cake and eat it. The way I see it if the Western Powers want peace and stability, they will have to allocate a much larger proportion of the annual budget to help the under-developed countries and they have to stop thinking its a favour and consider it their responsibility. Khalid Munir rightly pointed out the 13th Century Syndrome. What needs to be understood is that back then, the weak couldn’t do much about what the powerful were doing. Now with the concept of Low Intensity Conflict and the lethality of weapons and explosives (readily available to the less-fortunate), they are not going to sit and watch one part of the world live in total prosperity and the other in total misery.
The smaller states are part of a global monarchy and if the west opens its ears, they will hear the rabble knocking at the doors of Bastille.Recommend
I have the dubious honour for following Brig. Asad Muneers’s articles, simultaneously I have a confession of being hardly interactive, for this I apologize. Enough about me let us talk about the issue; so here is my bit:
“Knowing your enemy is half the battle, knowing the terrain is the second most important factor in winning a war.” Brig. Asad appears to have a good mastery on both these areas; He definitely knows the geographic layout of the terrain as is evident from his article He (Brig. Asad) also comes across a person who knows both geographic and psycho-graphic reality on ground. This is my assumption from what I am reading. There are a lot of ‘aay and nay Sayers’ but hardly anyone challenging with anything more than their personal bias / conviction. If wishes were …………………………. I know all of you the rest of idiom, no point repeating.
Now daring to expose my own perspective: There are two major issues we need to address:
1. How to respond the the VERY REAL THREAT FACED BY OUR COUNTRY, the issue is challenging our very existence and faith in the creation of this nation.
2. How to respond to “OUR ALLY AND PARTNER in this war whose each statement (By its official representatives) appears to be designed to create much more chaos rather than cohesion.
Now the very serious question we need to ask our leadership and USA is “WHO ARE THEY WITH?”
At the peril of repeating a stale joke I feel compelled to undertake this dubious task just to throw some light on the issue;
There was once a man whose friend requested ‘I need to understand where you stand vis a vis this important issue for me’ The simple friend said OK ask;
The friend asked F:’what will you do if do if lion attacks us?
He: ‘I will look for cover’
F: ‘What if there is NO COVER?’
He: “I will run for safety!’
F: “What if you cannot run?”
.
.
.
This goes on till the the guy is denied all logical options. Flustered and angered He asked “Hey wait a minute. The way this discussion is going I need to first clarify a very important issue! “ARE YOU WITH ME OR THE LION?”
The dilemma of our short sighted selfish leadership is “They cannot stand up and ask this question!!!!!!.
I very strongly think it is time to challenge our “Friend” rather than challenge ourselves.
We need to get answers to two questions from our FRIEND:
1. Who are they with and kindly NO WORDS WE NEED ON GROUND PROOF i.e. Physical proof.
2. Why would you and official of your government RELEASE SUCH PUBLIC STATEMENTS that cause us to be insulted; If you are a friend and think this is the right practice ‘Should we follow your lead “as a friend following your laid standards, and RETURN THE FAVOUR?
I am sorry to have said a lot, but I AM NOT SORRY FOR BEING PAKISTANI; A nation who has “NEVER BETRAYED USA INSPITE OF BEING BETRAYED ANF LEFT IN THE LURCH”
NO SIR I AM NOT ASHAMED OF LOYALTY TO My ‘Friend’ Actually I am ashamed of ‘not having much credible rational offered by the actions of my friend as proof to convince the public “THIS IS OUR FRIEND”
I don’t know is it my deterioting sight or my advancing dementia; I fail to remember “WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME MY “FRIEND” STOOD BY ME, AT MY TIME OF NEED?
Sorry I think I was tooo demanding, let me re-phrase, “When was the last time (or first time) when my friend did not exploit me?
I must be going crazy. Just HELP ME, “Please quote me one incidence or event that I can use to convince my people “WE MUST SUPPORT OUR FRIEND”
HELP HELP HELP Urgent answer sought.
Any ONE!!!!!!! Recommend
While i am strongly against what Hilary Clinton has said against our Sovereignty, supporting the world-wide view of US Imperialism, somewhere deep down inside i agree with her view point. For years and years our “establishment” has supported taliban.
Whereas i appreciate what our army has been doing lately ( defending the country for real), i do not agree with the fact in point, achieved “more” and suffered “more”. In this war, specially since Swat, who are we comparing ourselves too? While i say we have suffered, there is no more. We are fighting a war, and casualties occur. We suffer and we achieve. There is no “more”.
Having said this before, we for our whole lives have been “sold” the concept of one of the best armies in the world. I hope, for my country’s sake that we can actually tackle this parasite within our country.
I give the author full points for being one of the few sane people in this country who acknowledge the fact that military operation is just the first part. It’s all about long-term planning and strategic development, which i hope the “democratic government” can take care of. Let the armed forces fight the battles, and let the democratic forces take care of planning and running the country.
Overall, an amazing article with lot’s of scope for informative discussion.
LONG LIVE PAKISTAN!!!Recommend
Asfandyar – I fail to understand what you mean by the sarcasm in ‘Defending the country for real’?
in 1948 it was the quaid’s own wishes to go into kashmire and along with the pathan tribals the Pakistan army went and has indeed defended that Line of Control against an Indian army ingress.
In 1987 the Indian Army started advancing towards Skardu and Baltistan, perhaps to cut off the KKH.. Pakistan army stalwarts went to the heights of Siachen to once again ‘Defend’ the nation against an ingres from India. Like, defend for real.
65 we tried to get Kashmir back and it escalated into a war. Though the initial daring operation (gibraleter) failed and lots of SSG troops got martyred, the resulting Indian efforts to move into mainland Pakistan were thwarted, through real defence or through reposte in different secotors. So we defended for real.
71 – a political, rather democratic conflict between the people of west and east resulted in a hatred in the east pakistanis. As east pakistan collapsed so did its armies.. and till today the army has to carry the scar of defeat which was actually the result of a corrupt democracy.
2001.. India was poised on the Pakistani border and was it not for timely mobilization of the pakistan army, they would have most definitly attacked. The army really defended the nation then. And today as well it spills blood .. to hear your sarcasm. What a pity!
for our whole lives have been “sold” the concept of one of the best armies in the world
We are one of the best armies in the world and we’ve proven it in every field. Read this article again and that’s what Asad Munir says. What the whole of NATO couldn’t achieve in 9 years we’ve done in one year.
Why I say in one year is because since the first deployment in the tribal areas after 9/11, the armies hands have been tied down by the media’s claim that they are killing their own muslim brothers and the resultant reluctance of the state to let the army do what its good at. The leaders had indeed kept the army in a tight reign. As soon as they were given orders to deal with the situation, they cleaned swat and waziristan. Have no doubt in the army my friend – its no myth that they are the best in the world.Recommend