Pak Army’s ‘cosmetic’ offensive on border doing little to combat terror: Afghan officials

KABUL - While reports about the Pakistani military killing scores of militants and demolishing several of their hideouts in restive tribal regions along the Afghan border keep on flashing in the media almost daily, Afghan officials are sceptical over Islamabad’s claims regarding enhanced action against extremists.

Afghan leaders believe that Pakistan’s action have had little effect on the nine-year old insurgency in the war-torn country, as Islamabad is ‘picking and choosing’ which terror group to target and which to not.

“Those operations are not effective for Afghanistan. The Pakistani military are fighting those Taliban that are against the Pakistan government,” said Abdul Qayum Katawazy, governor of Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

The Paktika province borders Pakistan’s North and South Waziristan, the Taliban’s stronghold and southwest Balochistan.

“They do not want to fight militants who are against the Afghan government and coalition forces,” Katawazy added.

Afghan military officials pointed out that the Pakistan Army’s much publicised offensive in North and South Wazisirstan was not aimed at taking out extremists en masse, and that there were little benefits from those kinds of operations.

“We haven’t felt any positive effect from the operations yet. This operation was not in all of Waziristan and all the insurgent camps,” The News quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Asrar Aqdas, commander of the Afghan Army in Khost province, as saying.

Pakistani officials, however, have brushed aside suggestions that the offensive is not real.

Locals in the region are also concerned over Pakistan’s intentions.

“If the military of Pakistan want to remove the Taliban, they can do it in one month, but they don’t want to do that,” said Jawaz Khan, education director of the Ibrahim Khel village, situated close to the Pakistan border. (ANI)