Al Qaeda, Taliban remnants be targeted in Pakistan

KABUL after bin Laden’s death on its soil.  

The United States has said its next target was Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama’s deputy, after Osama’s death in a US commando raid in Abbottabad city of Pakistan on May 2.

The White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon told ABC last Sunday that it would depend on “the specifics of the operation,” when asked whether the US would inform Pakistan if it decides to target al Zawahri.

Afghan political analysts say the international community should exert pressure including military, economical and political, on Pakistan to convince it to be honest in the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism.

The Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders have safe havens in Pakistan, where counterinsurgency operations should be extended, analyst, Mohammad Younus Fakoor, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

“I believe that Gul Buddin Hekmatyar, the leader of Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan, Sarrajuddin Haqqani and other leaders of Taliban are hiding somewhere in Pakistan,” he said.

Pakistan must be aware of their presence on its soil, he said, adding the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan knew Osama was there.

He asked the international community to put political, economical and military pressure on Pakistan.

Former parliamentarian and political analyst, Abdul Kabir Ranjbar, on the other hand said Pakistan would not be ready to allow operations against Al Qaeda there.

The international community should take steps to force Pakistan to honestly fight terrorism, he said. “The Pakistani government has been cheating Afghanistan and the world community in the war on terror,” he alleged.

Pakistanwas interested only in its own benefits in the war and for this purpose the Pakistani government had pocketed billions of dollars from the world community, he said. The conflict in Afghanistan was a source of income for Pakistan, he said.

frm/ma

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