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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani envoy sees no major Taliban problems |
| 2005-12-16 |
| Pakistan's ambassador acknowledged on Thursday that "remnants" of Taliban and al Qaeda militants continue to operate in Afghanistan and his country's border, but insisted they are not resurging significantly. In an interview with Reuters, Jehangir Karamat said Osama bin Laden has lost effectiveness, that his al Qaeda organization has no overarching leadership capable of directing attacks worldwide and that it would be unwise to become "obsessed" with capturing the Islamist militant who directed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In addition, there are media reports that Pakistan's rugged Waziristan region along the Afghan border may be slipping back into the hands of Taliban and al Qaeda militants, despite the presence of some 60,000 Pakistani troops. In Afghanistan, "these are dissidents, political outsiders, some remnants of the Taliban on the run who are carrying out these episodic periodic attacks (but it is a) transient tactical phenomenon" that will end when the country stabilizes, Karamat said. "I think there is no large-scale organized Taliban presence anywhere" in Afghanistan and the overall outlook is "excellent," said Karamat, former chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff and chief of army staff. As for Waziristan, Karamat played down recent unrest, attributing it largely to "tribal infighting" and the involvement of Taliban and dissidents who prefer an unstable environment in which to traffic narcotics and weapons. A blast in North Waziristan killed an al Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza Rabia, and four other people on Dec. 3. Authorities in Pakistan say Rabia died when explosives at his hide-out detonated accidentally, but villagers said the blast was caused by a missile from an aircraft, possibly a U.S. drone. The former U.S. Sept. 11 commission, which wrote a 2004 analysis of what went wrong before and after the 2001 hijacked plane attacks, last month criticized Pakistan for continuing to be a sanctuary and training ground for terrorists. Karamat said Islamabad was vigorously working to keep the region under control with the border "strongly defended on both sides with no chance of any alien presence there." Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al Faisal, said last week bin Laden has been marginalized but the failure to capture him enhanced a sense of al Qaeda's invincibility and the group remained capable of launching attacks. Karamat said he did not know the status of bin Laden -- widely believed hiding along the Afghan-Pakistani border -- but "I don't think he's effective (and) I don't think there is an overarching leadership that is directing operations worldwide." Recent edicts and tapes issued in al Qaeda's name are "a ploy to give an impression that there is overall control, guidance and direction" to the group's activities, he said. Last week, al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri released a video urging militants to attack oil targets in Muslim states. Karamat said efforts are still under way to find bin Laden but "we shouldn't be obsessed with that" because it would divert attention from other anti-terror war operations. He said Pakistan continues to press the Bush administration for the opportunity to negotiate the same kind of civilian nuclear cooperation agreement reached in July with India, even though senior U.S. officials have publicly ruled out this possibility. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Yeah, and oysters grow in the Rocky Mountains. Loathsome Toad. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-12-16 16:42 |