Pakistan to launch new anti-Taliban operation

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 30,IRNA -- Pakistan has decided to launch military offensive in North Waziristan Agency tribal area, the stronghold of the militants, adjacent to border with Afghanistan, a leading newspaper reported on Monday.

The understanding for carrying out the operation was developed during the recently-concluded visit of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen last week, The News reported.

There was no official world on the report.

Quoting highly-placed sources as saying that the strategy drawn up for action in North Waziristan had been worked out long ago and accordingly the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will be put in operation in first place.

It will be softening the targets already determined and pointed out by the intelligence network and that would be followed by the ground action, the report said.

A joint operation with the allies has also been discussed but no decision has yet been made for it since it involves numerous sensitivities. In case the two sides agreed to go for a joint action, it would be for the first time in the present war that foreign boots will get a chance to be on Pakistan’s soil with the consent of the host country. It will be done after a careful assessment of the situation and deliberations by the armed forces’ command in Pakistan, The News reported.

The sources reminded that the armed forces are already present in North Waziristan. The target of such an operation in North Waziristan would be the most violent factions within the Pakistani Taliban, who had struck a peace deal with the army in 2007.

Washington has long urged the Pakistanis to launch an operation in North Waziristan, a region overrun by an assortment of militant groups, including al-Qaeda. Most US drone strikes in Pakistan take place in North Waziristan.

The sources pointed out that more than 30,000 soldiers are already present in North Waziristan, and some analysts say the Pakistan Army could quickly redeploy to the area.

The Army has 140,000 soldiers in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan.

The sources said that the PAF has put in place all precautionary measures to thwart any retaliatory action from North Waziristani elements. The PAF has already started reducing unnecessary non-operational staff at its bases considered possible target of retaliatory attacks by the militants, the sources said.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30410437