The brother of a man killed alongside Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. drone strike has asked for police to investigate his death.
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Meanwhile, Congressman Schiff also noted that while Pakistan had objected to the strike, the response had been somewhat “muted”, likely because they knew the USA action was right. Secretary of State John Kerry, re-emphasizing what the president had said, stated that Mansour posed a clear and ever present threat to US personnel in Afghanistan, civilians, Afghan security forces and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation coalition.
“We continue to cooperate closely with Afghanistan, but also urge Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially Taliban leadership, and that cooperation continues”, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
In a snap look at the incident considering the intelligence they receive, the question still remains that how the abovementioned sources did not get informed of Mullah Omar’s death in two years!? The spokesperson replied: I don’t believe he was, no. An official from Helmand province says: “We feel their eyes and the frigidity of their weapons behind our heads (hunting us)”.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan described the attack as “illegal, unjustified and unacceptable against Pakistan’s independence and sovereignty and completely against the U.N. Charter and global law”.
In Quetta yesterday, former Tehsildar (revenue officer) Rafique Tareen, who has been accused of verifying national identity card of Wali Muhammad, submitted bail plea in a court.
He said Pakistan would continue its efforts to establish a durable peace in Afghanistan. Unconfirmed reports say Pakistan might have given their blessings to the air strike as an attempt to give peace a chance between Kabul and the Taliban. However, some reports indicated that Wakil was a double-agent who had also worked for Karzai government against Pakistan.
Since December of 2015, the four countries have held several meetings to pave the way for launching direct peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Pakistan army is achieving high in Operation Zarb e Azab and nearly eliminated all safe havens of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from North and South Waziristan. The TTP has nearly exclusively focused on targets inside Pakistan, although it took credit for the 2009 Camp Chapman attack in Afghanistan and the 2010 Times Square vehicle bombing attempt. On Sunday Barack Obama hailed the death as an “important milestone” in efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan, and added, “where we have a high-profile leader who has been consistently part of plans and operations to potentially harm U.S. personnel and who has been resistant to the kinds of peace talks and reconciliation that ultimately could bring an end to decades of war in Afghanistan, then it is my responsibility as commander in chief not to stand by, but to make sure that we send a clear signal to the Taliban and others that we’re going to protect our people” – the others widely believed to refer to Pakistan. Although Pakistan demanded strong action against TTP, whose top leadership is hiding in Afghanistan, but that never happened.
Drone attacks have proven extremely controversial with the Pakistani public and rights groups.
Defence Minister said the prevailing security situation was improving day by day in the country. One of the factors why United States took that decision was due to strong Indian lobby to influence U.S. congress and senate members and that created hurdles for F-16s’ deal.
Last week’s military statement said General Sharif denounced “such acts of sovereignty violations” as ‘detrimental to relations and counter-productive for the ongoing peace process’.
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India should be watching these developments closely. As a result of recent deal brokered between both countries, their militaries will be able to use each other’s land, naval bases, resupplies, fix and rest.
