Not a one-way action
Tribal areas remain a source of anguish, both for Pakistan and for its allies. This is all the more so in the case of the two Waziristan agencies. Most of the high profile attacks inside Pakistan have been planned here. The TTP’s logistic centre continues to move from one side to the other. It is here that the various organization s that comprise the militant network have set up facilities for training their agents, providing them sanctuary and support. The bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was planned here. Pakistan military decided to launch an operation in South Waziristan after getting credible evidence that the attack on the GHQ had also originated from the agency. While the elections are to be held within months, the TTP has issued threats to attack the public gatherings of secular political parties. Western media reporters have been taken to these agencies to interview the militant leaders. The Punjabi Taliban and prominent Al Qaeda leaders have been killed in drone attacks in North Waziristan. The two safe havens are also a major source of friction between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US.
Long before the US raised the issue, Kabul had been claiming that a number of attacks inside Afghanistan emanated from North and South Waziristan. Washington also has been making similar complaints.
Pakistan has so far avoided to launch a full scale offensive in North Waziristan despite immense pressure from its allies on the ground that it was not properly prepared for it. It cannot afford to wait any longer. With the US and its allies preparing to leave by the end of 2014, the militancy has to be brought under check within two years. There is an urgent need on the part of the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan to devise a joint strategy for the containment of militancy through both military action and dialogue with the Afghan Taliban. This alone can ensure that Afghanistan is not turned into a safe haven for Al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban and the TTP. A failure to do so is likely to turn the region into the centre of international terrorism, posing an existential threat to Pakistan. Islamabad can no longer afford to bury its head in the sand. The clarification by the TTP that there was going to be no change in its leadership should lead the Pakistani agencies to shed unrealistic hopes of a policy turnaround in the militant outfit.
The US, Pakistan and Afghanistan have to act jointly to eliminate the terrorist threat. Pakistan meanwhile needs to link up any operation in North Waziristan with a similar operation by the NATO inside Afghanistan against TTP leaders like Mullah Fazlullah who continue to launch attacks inside Pakistan from across the border.
