A U.S.
drone strike on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan killed a senior member of the
Taliban-linked Haqqani network early on Thursday, Nov. 21, Pakistani and Afghan
sources said. It was the first drone strike since
Pakistani Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud was killed, Nov. 1 in an attack that
sparked a fierce power struggle within the fragmented insurgency.[1]
Maulvi
Ahmad Jan, an adviser to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the Taliban-linked
Haqqani network, was in the madrassa when at least three rockets hit his room
in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa just before sunrise. At least four
other people also died in the attack along with Ahmad Jan. The missiles hit
only two of the nine rooms in the seminary where Maulvi Jan was staying with
several other militants. Dozens of students sleeping in other rooms were unhurt.
"Only the two rooms where Maulvi Ahmad Jan and other Afghan Taliban
leaders were staying were hit by the drone. The remaining seven rooms remained
intact," a local resident said.[2]
The
group is one of the main enemies of U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan,
frequently launching attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in
Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region. But it has been under considerable strain this
month since its chief financier, Nasiruddin Haqqani, was shot dead in Islamabad
on November 11. No one claimed responsibility for that shooting.
Pakistan
publicly opposes U.S. drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and
violate its sovereignty, although, in private, officials admit the government
broadly supports them.
The
attack took place a day after Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was
quoted as saying the United States had promised not to conduct drone strikes
while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks. The United
States did not comment on Aziz's remarks.[3]
I append below an excerpt from my article, PAKISTAN: The Days
After, which appeared in my blog:
IsrarHasan.com, and which I published and circulated to almost all English dailies
and weeklies of Pakistan, on July 21.
“After unprecedented 9/11 attacks within American soil, the
US administration thinks that their country is insecure so long Al-Qaeda,
Taliban and their affiliates hide in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cessation of
drone attacks on Pakistan soil will not be an easy task for Nawaz Sharif so
long Pakistan remains committed with the United States on War on Terror and so
long the in-house terrorists of al-Qaeda, Taliban and their affiliates like TTP
and Haqqani network are committed to fight against the United States and NATO.
The United States and Al-Qaeda are deadly enemy to each other. America, after
9/11 attack on its soil and after denial of Afghan govt. to handover the hosted
guests of al-Qaeda with Osama bin-Laden, the US dismantled the Afghan
government of Taliban.”[4]
The War in Afghanistan from 2001–present,
refers to the intervention by NATO and USA allied forces in the Afghan
political struggle, following the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, to dismantle the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and to remove
from power theTaliban government, which at the
time controlled 90% of Afghanistan and hosted
al-Qaeda leadership. U.S. President George
W. Bush demanded
that the Taliban hand over Osama
bin Laden and expel the al-Qaeda network which was
supporting the Taliban in its war with the Afghan Northern Alliance. The Taliban declined to extradite him without evidence of
his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. The United States refused to negotiate and
launched on 7 October 2001 joined by the United
Kingdom, Germany and other western allies, to attack the Taliban and
al-Qaeda forces in conjunction with the Northern Alliance inside Afghanistan.
The war expanded into neighboring North-West Pakistan. In 2004, the Pakistani Army began to clash with local
tribes hosting al-Qaeda and militants. The U.S. military launched drone attacks in Pakistan in order to kill leaders of the insurgent groups. This
resulted in the start of an insurgency in Waziristan in 2007.
Despite
repeatedly denouncing the CIA’s drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan’s
government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received
classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret
CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The Washington Post, described
by Greg
Miller Bob
Woodward, The files
describe dozens of drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal region and include maps
and aerial photos of targeted compounds over a four-year stretch from late 2007
to late 2011 in which the campaign intensified
dramatically.
The
armed conflict began in 2004 when tensions, rooted in the Pakistan Army's search
for al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan's
mountainous Waziristan area (in FATA), escalated into armed resistance of
local tribes. Clashes further erupted between unified Pakistan Armed Forces and the Central
Asian militant groups, allied with the Arab fighters.
The
foreign militants were joined by Pakistani non-military veterans of the Afghan war, which subsequently established the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan) and other militant umbrella
organizations such as LeI (Lashkar-e-Islam) and the TNSM (Tehrike Nifaz
Shariat-e-Muhammadi).
Aizaz
Ahmad Chaudhry, the spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said, “Whatever understandings there may or may not
have been in the past, the present government has been very clear regarding its
policy on the issue. “We regard such strikes as a violation of our sovereignty
as well as international law. They are also counter-productive.”
The
U.S. and allies drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. Most al-Qaeda and
Taliban members escaped to neighboring Pakistan in Waziristan adjoining its
border with Afghanistan. Mullah Omar reorganized the
Taliban movement and in 2003 launched insurgency against the Afghan government
and ISAF forces. The Taliban insurgents,
like the Haqqani Network and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, have waged assymmetric warfare with guerilla
raids and ambushes in the
countryside, suicide attacks against urban
targets, and turncoat killings against coalition forces. The US has been asking
Pakistan without any fruitful result to contain the Haqqani network spread
throughout Waziristan.
Nawaz Sharif and his government, after taking oath of
office in May last have constantly been asking that the United States cease its
drone strikes in Pakistan, while at the same time Pakistan is hosting 3 million
foreign Afghan refugees easily supplyig fighters and manpower to Haqqani
network. The United States has been giving a patient hearing of all the
complaints of Pakistan but has not commented on any. The US is going on with its targeted drones
inside Pakistan and its targeted preparation for pull back from Afghanistan in
2014 . The strategy seems to withdraw
from Afghanistan with as little damages and loss of American lives and
materials as possible and at the same time to cleanse Waziristan and FATA by
killing as much leaders of insurgents as possible. I have no doubt that drone strikes in
Pakistan will consequently subside by itself in late 2014, hopefully.
But
a new kind of more havoc problem will emerge in Pakistan when insurgents of
Afghanistan will join hands with Pakistan Taliban and other insurgent groups of
central Asian operatives to get their lost regime in Afghanistan. America and its allies are going to use their
best to maintain their western influences in Afghanistan, especially in view of
the recent nuclear-power deal of Iran with the five great powers of the world. A new front of war, unrest, anarchy and
killings will ensue, most possibly, on the horizon of Afghanistan and Pakistan
in post 2014 era.
ISRAR HASAN
Nov. 26, 2013
