The United States’ decision to withdraw troops from north-eastern Afghanistan over 20 months has let Taliban establish bases in the area and carry out unusually large attacks on Pakistan in recent weeks, the Bloomberg reported while quoting Pakistani military.
Several Pakistani Taliban groups moved fighters into Afgan provinces of Nuristan and Kunar and used five times in the past month to send hundreds of them to target Pakistani border posts or police stations, said army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. “In the past we never had this kind of experience, where 200 to 300 militants attacked us,” Abbas said in an interview at the GHQ.
It showed that the militants had established bases in the bordering Afghan territory, he added. “ISAF posts were vacated and that created a void,” Abbas said. “Unless we resolve this, it will not allow the whole effort of bringing stability in the region.” Pakistan’s complaint about the Taliban filling a power vacuum in Afghanistan comes as President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw 33,000 US by the end of next year, replacing them with Afghan troops and police.
Washington contends that Pakistan has failed to eliminate similar safe areas for the guerrillas in its border districts, especially North Waziristan, says the Bloomberg. The complaints on both sides underscored the need and the difficulty for Pakistan and Afghanistan to maintain control all the way to the isolated, mountainous border between them, Abbas said.
Pakistani officials say the US pullback from the region since late 2009 has given the Taliban an escape route from the Pakistan army’s offensives to clear the militants from Bajaur and Mohmand.
