Pakistan Security Brief - May 11, 2010

Pakistan Security Brief – May 11, 2010

US Generals say they are not pressuring Pakistan for a North Waziristan operation; Lt. Gen. Khan says North Waziristan operation is on the agenda; US senators ask for TTP to be labeled as a “foreign terrorist organization”; US drone fires barrage of missiles at Taliban compound in North Waziristan; aerial bombardments pound militant hideouts in Upper Orakzai; search operation conducted in Khyber; court dismisses Khawaja’s petition to block Baradar extradition; search operation conducted, tribal elders from Mohmand meet with government officials in Swat; Khyber-Pakhtunkwa to have more divisions and districts; new report says TTP to move into Punjab to conduct attacks in the next few days.

US-Pakistan relations

• As speculation continues over increased US pressure for an operation in North Waziristan, General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, denied reports that he pushed for Pakistan to launch a North Waziristan operation during his meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. McChrystal commended the Pakistani military’s efforts in its campaigns against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and stated that he and Kayani had a good working relationship. He also noted that the TTP insurgency was an “essential threat” to Pakistan and a “common problem” faced by both countries. Admiral Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that in his meeting with Kayani on Sunday he also made it clear that the US was not pressuring Pakistan for a North Waziristan operation.[1]

• Lieutenant General Mahmood Ali Khan, the chairman of the Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated that an operation in North Waziristan is definitely on the agenda. However, Khan also said that such an operation will be conducted on a timetable established by Pakistan and only when enough resources become available.[2]

• At least five US senators have issued a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for the State Department to designate the TTP as a “foreign terrorist organization”. Doing so would make offering material support to the TTP a criminal offense and would also freeze the group’s assets in the US.[3]

FATA

• At least a dozen missiles fired from a US drone struck multiple targets in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. The barrage, which fired an unusually high number of missiles, killed as many as 14 militants and destroyed a compound believed to be a Taliban training center as well as several vehicles outside. One report indicates the training facility belonged to Hafiz Gul Bahadur while a different report said the compound belonged to Sadiq Noor, another Taliban warlord in the area.[4]

• Jet fighters and helicopter gunships continued the offensive in Upper Orakzai, killing at least 11 militants in a series of bombardments which targeted hideouts in the Mishti and Saam areas.[5]

• On Monday, security forces conducted a search operation in the Aka Khel area of Khyber Agency’s Bara sub-district. Three militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Islam were arrested in the raid, one of which was killed when he later attempted to flee from custody.[6]

• A petition filed by Khalid Khawaja attempting to block the extradition of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban’s second in command, has been thrown out by a Pakistani court. The petition was dismissed in light of Khawaja’s recent kidnapping and execution in North Waziristan by a group calling itself the ‘Asian Tigers’.[7]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly NWFP)

• Security forces conducted a raid in the Koza Bandai area of Swat district’s Kabal sub-district on Monday in which eight suspected militants were arrested and several weapons were seized. Elsewhere, six unidentified bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in Khawazakela sub-district. Also on Monday, Qandahari tribal elders from Mohmand Agency met with government officials in Darwagzai to establish cooperation with security forces for the implementation of peace and development in their home territory.[8]

• Responding to demands from the public, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has said that it intends to create more districts and divisions in the recently re-named province. Provincial Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters that “due to the increased population and difficulties in running administrative affairs, there is a need to create more divisions and districts.”[9]

Punjab

• An intelligence report released in Pakistan indicates that TTP militants from Orakzai and Waziristan are making their way to Punjab province with the intention of carrying out terrorist attacks in the next couple of days. The report also said that the TTP are trying to rent houses in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, among other major cities in Punjab, from which they plan launch the attacks.[10]