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| India-Pakistan |
| Mehsud's death a sign of success in Pakistan: US |
| 2009-08-10 |
| [Geo News] President Barack Obama's national security advisor on Sunday hailed the reported killing of the Pakistani Taliban's leader as "a big deal" that has already has stirred dissension in the insurgent ranks. US national security adviser Jim Jones put the level of US certainty that Baitullah Mehsud died Wednesday in a US missile strike "in the 90 percent category." "Pakistan has confirmed it. We know that there reports from the Mehsud tribe that he wasn't. But the evidence is pretty conclusive," Jones said in an interview with a US T.V. "This is a big deal," Jones said. He said it meant that US efforts to forge closer security ties with the Pakistani military were "moving in the right direction," and that the Pakistanis were "doing quite well in terms of their fight against extremism." "Baitullah was the public enemy number one in Pakistan, so its their biggest target," he said. Jones said he could not confirm reports that another top Pakistani Taliban commander was killed in a shootout with a rival. "It certainly appears there is dissension in the ranks. That's not a bad thing for us," Jones told media. "I won't say it's a tipping point, but it certainly shows that we're having some success." The Pakistani government said it was investigating the report of a shootout between Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, and Wali-ur Rehman, a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan movement. Jones said US and Pakistani intelligence sharing has grown and that the US and Pakistani military are working more closely together on Afghanistan as well. In a televised interviews, Jones also said the United States has not ruled out sending more troops to Afghanistan but should first see what effect its new strategy is having. He confirmed an account in US daily that he told military commanders during a visit to Afghanistan in late June that if they asked for more troops now, "the president would quite likely have a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment." |
| Posted by:Fred |