The US drone strikes in North Waziristan prove to be the most effective weapon of choice against militants in a long time. Pakistani Interior Minister has denied rumors of a possible military operation in Noth Waziristan. Though civilians are not any decision maker in issues related to foreign policy.
Recently Pakistani Chief of Army, General Kayani at the Pakistan Military Academy gave a reference. Pakistan Army seems ready to launch the operation they should have conducted long ago.
There was quick reaction from Taliban with an attack on the Kamra Airbase. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said they had learnt that the Pakistan Army had drawn up plans for an operation in North Waziristan Agency in the near future and that the Taliban are prepared to mount a fitting response to any operations.
He claimed that his group had received "exclusive" intelligence from "sources" in the Pakistan army headquarters. The email from TTP spokesman included information about the regiments and units to participate in the operation, which he said would be launched on August 26 and would last one month.
The US forces are said to increase movements in Afghan bordering areas with North Waziristan to stop their flee. However, it is unclear what the scale and intensity of the Pakistani military operations would be. Whether they will end up with a decisive victory after a very bloody campaign, or a quick ceasefire and deal with militants like the ones they did in South Waziristan and other tribal areas previously.
The bottom-line credit of the war on terror for Pakistan would be to turn the current global reputation deficit with a full-fledge war against militants, not only clearing Pakistani territory in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas from Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda presence, but also forcing Quetta Shura elements of the Afghan Taliban to either join the negotiations with the US and Karzai Administration or leave their safe havens in Pakistan. Without the safe havens, manpower and logistical support they enjoy in Pakistan, the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan would be a matter of some small special operations by the US and Afghan forces.
akistani can truly help NATO and Afghanistan root out the plague of Taliban militancy, if they launch a full-fledge war against them. Otherwise, a military operation in North Waziristan would not help much when Haqqanis and other Afghan militants would be let escape to other agencies in FATA, while the TTP elements against Pakistani Army are eliminated in the operations.