Bid to smuggle missiles to Pakistan foiled: NDS

KABUL.

One official suggested the missiles were to be used to shoot down unmanned drones. However, he neither disclosed the location of the seizure nor the number of the missiles.

Drone strikes have killed a number of dreaded militant commanders, including Haqqani leaders, in Pakistan’s tribal badlands of Waziristan in recent years.

National Directorate of Security (NDS) spokesman Abdul Haseeb Siddiqui told Pajhwok Afghan News that intelligence had made determined efforts to thwart the smuggling of the missiles to Pakistan.

Without giving minute details, he said the terrorist network had sold anti-aircraft missiles that were to be transferred to the neighbouring country. The NDS operatives also recovered explosives during a recent operation.

Siddiqui believed the group, operating mostly in the east and southeast of Afghanistan, was left with no more missiles that could be used to shoot down helicopters or drones, an effective weapon that the US frequently employs against the insurgents in inhospitable terrains.

Meanwhile, Paktika police chief Brig. Gen. Nabi Jan Mullahkhel said he had no idea about the missile seizure. He thought the NDS alone could have conducted the operation.

In Paktika, the Haqqani network is believed to have strongholds in Barmal, Orgun, Zherok and Sar Rawza districts.

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