Military Plans to Enlist Tribal Elders in Newest North Waziristan Operation
13 June 2011
The military is planning to enlist pro-government tribal elders in a fresh campaign it has devised to flush out al Qaeda members and its affiliates from North Waziristan, officials said on Sunday. The move is aimed at deflecting growing US pressure for a full-scale offensive against the Haqqani Network – the deadliest of all Afghan Taliban factions – allegedly based there. Under the plan, local tribesmen have been urged to form laskhars,...
Read the post »
Army to Launch Kurram Offensive; "Too Busy" for N. Waziristan: Pakistani General
01 June 2011
Pakistan's army will soon launch an attack on militants in Kurram tribal region as part of a campaign to stamp out Taliban safe havens on its borders with Afghanistan, a Pakistani general said Wednesday. Pakistan's military has come under severe criticism in the U.S., heightened since the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last month, for doing too little to shut down Taliban operational bases on its territory. U.S. officials want Pakistan to attack...
Read the post »
US Presses Pakistan to Target Specific Militant Leaders
31 May 2011
The United States has drawn up a list of five militant Islamic leaders it expects Pakistan to provide intelligence about immediately and possibly target in joint operations, including Osama bin Laden deputy Ayman al Zawahiri and Taliban commander Mullah Omar, according to a U.S. official and a Pakistani official. The list also includes Siraj Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani network, the most violent group in the Afghan Taliban and...
Read the post »
NATO Helicopter, Paramilitaries Exchange Fire at Border Post
17 May 2011
NATO helicopters crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan and fired on a Pakistani border post early Tuesday, injuring two paramilitary soldiers, according to the Pakistani army. Soldiers at the post in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan fired on the helicopters, which prompted an exchange of fire, the military said in a statement. North Waziristan, in Pakistan’s tribal belt, is home to several militant organizations that target international...
Read the post »
"Crumbling Unity" among North Waziristan Groups an Opportunity for Pakistani Army
28 April 2011
Crumbling unity among militants could provide the Pakistan army an opening to conduct a limited offensive against a particularly vicious Taliban group in a strategic tribal region, according to analysts and a senior military official. The target of such an operation in North Waziristan would be the most violent factions within the so-called Pakistani Taliban. Their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is believed to be increasingly isolated after executing...
Read the post »
Drone Strike Kills 25 in North Waziristan
26 April 2011
Two U.S. pilotless aircraft fired four missiles into a house in Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Friday killing 25 militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The strike came two days after a visit to Islamabad by Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military official, in which he expressed concern over links between Pakistani security agents and militants attacking U.S.-led forces across the border in Afghanistan. A...
Read the post »
20 April 2011
The top U.S. military officer accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of maintaining ties to militants in Afghanistan during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on easing diplomatic tensions. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pakistan's perceived foot-dragging in tackling strongholds in North Waziristan belonging to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it was "the most difficult part"...
Read the post »
North Waziristan Militants Plan Response to Potential Strikes
18 April 2011
The Pakistani military high command may not have yet made a decision about strike against the Taliban in North Waziristan, but the militant groups based there are taking no chances, preparing contingency plans for a counter-assault if necessary. An interior ministry report states that a secret meeting of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Masjlis e Shura, recently held in South Waziristan was attended by the leaders of the Haqqani group, the Al Haq...
Read the post »
Captured Attacker Claims 350 Suicide Bombers Training in North Waziristan
11 April 2011
"A would-be suicide bomber who failed to detonate his vest in an attack at a Sufi shrine on April 3 has told officials that hundreds of suicide bombers are currently training at camps in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The failed suicide bomber, who was identified as Fida Hussain earlier this week, was captured after his vest failed to detonate outside the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab...
Read the post »
Haqqani Network Influence in Kurram and Its Implications for Afghanistan: Report
30 March 2011
"The Haqqani Network is one of Afghanistan's most capable insurgent groups. Based in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency, the Haqqani network's senior leadrship directs the insurgency in Afghanistan's southeastern provinces of Khost, Paktika, and Paktia. The network is important not only because of its tactical and operational proficiency, but because it links foreign terrorists, such as al-Qa'ida, to operations inside Afghanistan. In the last...
Read the post »