Killing of Taliban leader may deal a fatal blow to Afghan peace hopes: expert

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“The complexities in Pak-Afghan relations can only be solved through a political process and the recent drone attack by the United States in which Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed will further intricate the peace process,” Pakistan’s former ambassador and an expert on Afghan affairs Ayaz Wazir said.

Talking to Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami in his talk show DNA on Channel 24, Wazir said that Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had during his visit to the US two months ago admitted that the leadership of Afghan Taliban resides in Pakistan.

According to Wazir, the selection of Mullah Mansour as the leader of Afghan Taliban took place in Kuchlak, a town near the provincial capital of Balochistan. Pakhtuns, he added, were famous for taking revenge and after this drone strike, attacks on US forces would now increase in Afghanistan.

It may be mentioned here that it was the first drone attack on Balochistan in which Mullah Mansour was killed.

Arif Nizami, in his analysis, said it seemed that President Obama wanted to declare a war on Pakistan as the US had started launching drone attacks in areas other than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. “Pakistan is facing a similar situation that surfaced in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden five years ago,” he added.

Defence analyst Lt-General (r) Talat Masood said that the killing of Mansour was an embarrassment for Pakistan. “We need to strengthen our institutions and the civilian leadership must take ownership of major security policies of the country,” he said. He was of the view that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif avoided calling meetings on the national security as he thought he might lose his civilian turf by doing this.

1 COMMENT

  1. Leaders come and go. Same was being said when Abdullah Mehsood was killed, when Mulla Omar died, when OBL was killed and now Mulla Mansoor. Peace will not come to Afghanistan till the occupation of the country continues. The US and Allies would stay here in one form or other and will use this unfortunate country as their first line of defence against China.

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