A top commander says Pakistan has driven out al Qaeda and the Taliban from one of their main centers near the Afghan border. Fighting has gone on for nearly two years in that area.
[Major General Tariq Khan, Regional Commander, Pakistan Military]:
"We have concluded operations up to the Afghan border. We think the Bajaur operations have now more or less ended as dedicated military operations. We will switch our posture to policing operations."
U.S. intelligence was focused on Bajaur, and in particular Damadola village where an al Qaeda leader had been hiding in recent years.
In 2008, the army mounted an offensive in Bajaur and later said it had largely cleared militants from the area. But clashes have erupted again in recent months.
Many of the militants have crossed the border into Afghanistan from the Bajaur region, and others have melted away into other parts of Pakistan, a problem government forces often encounter in their battle against insurgents.
[Major General Tariq Khan, Regional Commander, Pakistan Military]:
"The leadership out here it does not exist. I would give you a rough estimate that about 25 percent must have gone across the border; another about 10 or 15 percent might have melted back into the areas of Swat etc. where they'd come from; a substantial amount of them have been killed. But that is just an estimate. Nobody can give you a factual figure of how many people are running up and down. They can't even find Osama bin Laden yet."
Pakistani offensives, such as the one in Bajaur, could ease pressure on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and disrupt al Qaeda from plotting violence in the region and beyond.
[Major General Tariq Khan, Regional Commander, Pakistan Military]:
"We have concluded operations up to the Afghan border. We think the Bajaur operations have now more or less ended as dedicated military operations. We will switch our posture to policing operations."
U.S. intelligence was focused on Bajaur, and in particular Damadola village where an al Qaeda leader had been hiding in recent years.
In 2008, the army mounted an offensive in Bajaur and later said it had largely cleared militants from the area. But clashes have erupted again in recent months.
Many of the militants have crossed the border into Afghanistan from the Bajaur region, and others have melted away into other parts of Pakistan, a problem government forces often encounter in their battle against insurgents.
[Major General Tariq Khan, Regional Commander, Pakistan Military]:
"The leadership out here it does not exist. I would give you a rough estimate that about 25 percent must have gone across the border; another about 10 or 15 percent might have melted back into the areas of Swat etc. where they'd come from; a substantial amount of them have been killed. But that is just an estimate. Nobody can give you a factual figure of how many people are running up and down. They can't even find Osama bin Laden yet."
Pakistani offensives, such as the one in Bajaur, could ease pressure on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and disrupt al Qaeda from plotting violence in the region and beyond.
Category
🗞
News