Director CIA gen (retd) David Petraeus has alleged that a syndicate of terrorist outfits is operating from Pakistani tribal areas.
While answering questions before the House Intelligence Committee,
Director CIA gen (retd) David Petraeus said “there is a syndicate of
terrorist organisations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Afghan and
Pakistani Taliban and Islamic movement of Uzbekistan are all connected
to each other.”
On a question about the Quetta shura of Taliban, he said that it was
the overarching organization but “we can t say that all terrorist
outfits are part of it”. He said that all such groups may carry out
independent activities, but are loosely connected to each other against
the United States.
When asked about the Haqqani network on Afghanistan s eastern border,
he said “Haqqani network based in Pakistan s tribal area of North
Waziristan and is linked to Taliban and other terrorist networks”.
“It is a lethal network with indications of going transnational,
although we have not seen any proof that they have been successful in
doing so,” he pointed out.
He said Haqqani network had carried out several important attacks on
US bases and embassy in Kabul. Taliban had used civilian assasinations
to terrorise the people in Afghanistan and elsewhere, he conceded. In
response to another query, he agreed that “Taliban have been saying to
Afghan people that we are coming back.”
The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, during
the hearing, expressed his reservations over the US efforts to
negotiate with such terrorist network to achieve a peace deal in
Afghanistan, and cited the example of Pakistan to prove his point.
“Negotiations with Taliban for reconciliation are very very
disturbing for us,” he stated while hoping that the pieces of
intelligence the US authorities were receiving in this regard were
accurate.
Pakistan s efforts, he observed, to achieve a peace deal with Taliban
in FATA were not successful in 2006-07. Taliban have used such
negotiations over and over again to buy time and carry out more attacks,
he said while regretting the fact that Taliban militants had been
assasinating civilians even during the course of these negotiations.
Director CIA agreed with the Intelligence Committee chairman and said
that “the said peace deal was with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in Swat”.
This deal was not successful and that s why Pakistani army had to move
in. Many civilians and Pakistan army troops were the casualty during
this period,” he recalled.
Gen. Petraeus informed the members of the committee that Pakistan was
also a part of reconciliation process as the third party. Mike Rogers
also expressed dismay about Secretary Defense Leon Panetta s statement
about ending combat in Afghanistan earlier than schedule in 2013 as a
“cause of concern”.
“This shows a change in plans and is not something that we had
understood as Intelligence Committee members”, he asserted. Meanwhile,
the state department and the Pentagon moved to clarify the remarks of
Secretary Panetta saying that “these only reflected his hope of an early
transition of security responsibility to Afghan national forces.”
“The final drawdown date of end-2014 remains on track. Consultation
for making recommendations to the Chicago summit in May this year are
ongoing and any final decision will be taken with all the stakeholders
on board”, Pentagon spokesman Capt. (retd) John Kirby said in a separate
briefing to reporters.
“We want to assure our Afghan partners that no decision will be taken
without their close consultation,” he said and also made it clear that
Panetta s remarks were not meant to relay any signal to NATO or French
authorities, who have indicated at the possibility of an early
withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan.
“Our military gains in Afghanistan have given this hope to Secretary
Panetta that we will be able to achieve transition of security
responsibility to Afghans early,” Kirby said.
“There is some tough fighting ahead in this mission and nobody should
misunderstand it as we want to ensure that Afghanistan will not be a
safe heaven for terrorists ever again,” he stated.
The Pentagon spokesman also reiterated that the US will continue to
have a presence of force in Afghanistan in assistance and advisory
capacity beyond 2014 and consultations in this regard were ongoing. SANA
