Osama demise to weaken Taliban insurgency: Azimi

KABUL, an official of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Wednesday.

The alleged mastermind behind the devastating 9/11 attacks in the United States was killed during a firefight with American Special Forces inside a luxury mansion in Abbottabad city of Pakistan on Sunday night. He was buried at sea.

Osama had been known in Afghanistan and the world at large, MoD spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi told a media briefing in Kabul. His demise would have a positive impact on the overall security situation in the country, he hoped.

“I don’t foresee any change in the immediate term. But in future, his demise will lead to positive changes in Afghanistan, and indeed in the whole world,” the spokesman remarked.

He saw three possible post-Osama scenarios: Al Qaeda’s quest for revenge, a gradual transition to normalcy and then an improvement on the security front in Afghanistan.

When asked whether the Taliban militant had ties to the Saudi dissident, the spokesman said: “Definitely, they did. In recent years, however, Osama played no important role in operations in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban would grow weaker as a result of the Abbottabad raid, he believed, saying: “Special security measures have been adopted across the globe, including in Afghanistan, because some Al Qaeda members want to show that they will not cease operations after their leader’s death.”

In response to the query whether the terror network had been destroyed, the spokesman said Osama’s killing marked the beginning of a serious effort to eliminate all those who were busy shedding the blood of innocent people.

He said Kabul would continue trying to convince the international community to target terrorist infrastructure outside Afghanistan. “Terrorist attacks in Afghanistan can’t be prevented as long as their training and equipment centres are not eliminated.”

He said the fact that the Al Qaeda lived for six years in an area close to a military academy suggested Pakistani intelligence agencies were either unaware of his whereabouts or pursued a two-faced policy on the war on terror.

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