A step in the right direction
The understanding reached between the US and Pakistan has started to produce positive results. Nato and Afghan forces had so far ignored Pakistan’s demand to rein in the TTP elements who were making use of the Afghan territory to launch attacks on this side of the border. On Friday night, a US drone targeted Pakistani Taliban on Afghan soil for the first time. The attack led to the killing of Mullah Dadullah, one of TTP’s senior leaders and a dreaded militant commander who was involved in kidnapping of 30 students from Bajaur Agency last year. Dadullah was also behind the cross border attacks in Bajaur and Upper Dir, two of which took place early on Friday.
The death of a high profile leader would further lower the morale of the TTP which is already mired in leadership struggles and defections. Dadullah took over after Bajur Agency’s former leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was removed on charges of trying to negotiate peace with Pakistan. That a chip planted near Dadullah’s compound helped the drone trace his whereabouts is likely to add to mutual suspicions among the militant leaders. An earlier report claiming that Mullah Dadullah was targeted inside Bajaur could have caused an uproar over yet another violation of the country’s sovereignty. Coalition spokesman Maj Martyn Crighton has however confirmed that Dadullah was killed inside Kunur province. The statement by a senior TTP leader also makes it clear that the militant leader had died inside his compound in Kunur.
Yet another drone strike in North Waziristan has taken out Emeti Yakuf, the Amir of the East Turkistan Movement, along with three other commanders. This would provide solace to the Chinese government which had expressed unhappiness over Uighur separatists using Pakistani territory as a springboard to launch attacks in Sinkiang. Reports about an operation being in the offing in North Waziristan are having a salutary impact. Hundreds of foreign fighters are reportedly migrating from the Agency along with their families.
Despite some of the most serious drawbacks of drone attacks like casualties among non-combatants, they have eliminated a number of Taliban, Al-Qeda and TTP charismatic figures and strategic masterminds. Their removal from the scene has degraded the terrorist networks’ operational capabilities. This is indicated by the reduction in attacks outside KP during the last two years. Similarly, the fear of a drone attack has immobilized those still alive. With Dadullah dead, Washington can claim it has started fulfilling the commitment it made and it is now for Islamabad to follow suit.