Pakistan in key victory over Taliban
Pakistan Saturday, February 28th, 2009Pakistan said yesterday it had forced Taliban militants out of a key battleground in the global fight against extremism and boasted of major gains in another region bordering Afghanistan.
The six-month battle with insurgents in the remote Bajaur district is seen as pivotal to the country’s fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, after bombings have killed more than 1,600 people in less than two years.
Pakistan launched the Bajaur offensive in August amid heavy criticism from US and Afghan officials who say it is not doing enough to stop militants crossing into Afghanistan to attack foreign troops.
Heavy artillery and helicopter gunships have pounded Bajaur, one of Pakistan’s seven federally-administered tribal areas along the Afghan border, in a bid to flush out militant bases, killing hundreds.
“We think that we have secured this agency (district),” said Major General Tariq Khan, the commander of forces fighting in Bajaur.
“They have lost. They have lost their cohesion out here,” Khan said.
Colonel Saif Ullah, the commander in the tribal region of Mohmand, said troops had repelled insurgents from almost all the territory and that it would soon be cleared. “There are no more no-go areas. The militants are running away,” he said.
Pacifying the two regions would be a significant achievement for security forces and could lead to a reduction in cross-border attacks on US troops in Afghanistan.
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on Feb 28 2009. Filed under