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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

US gives Pakistan deadline till July for North Waziristan operation

In the past few years, slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and his successor Hakimullah Mehsud launched a "war against the Pakistani security forces with the help of the Mehsud tribe, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and some other sectarian groups".
The killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Abbottabad on May 2 strengthened American decision to pull out its troops from Afghanistan and political advisers like US Vice President Joe Biden have advised President Barack Obama "not to go against the withdrawal roadmap" announced in 2009 if he wants to save the US economy from disastrous effects, the report said. The deadline and increased pressure on Pakistan for a military operation in North Waziristan before starting the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan will serve several purposes, the report claimed. The killing or arrest of some of the most wanted terrorists by Pakistani and US security forces will "boost the morale of the American people". Such a move will also shut up critics who "might say the withdrawal decision was taken by an exhausted nation and a defeated military". "On the other hand, the Haqqani network and the al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders, allegedly based in Pakistan, and guiding the Afghan Taliban to fight the foreign forces, would not claim the US withdrawal their success," the report said. PTI