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Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the tribal areas. Map from PBS’ Frontline. Click to view. |
A cross-border incident that resulted in Pakistani and Afghan security forces casualties was launched by the Taliban with the intent to “to spark a border incident,” the International Security Assistance Force reported.
“Insurgents simultaneously fired at targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the evening of July 10,” ISAF reported in a press release. Afghan police in Paktika province and a Pakistani military unit along the border in South Waziristan reported taking mortar fire at the same time, the US military stated. Eight Pakistani soldiers and four Afghan police were reported wounded in the initial attack.
The US military determined the origin of mortar fire to have started at two points inside Afghanistan and returned fire with artillery and a laser-guided GBU-13 bomb dropped from an F-15. The US fires were “verified to have hit the origins of insurgent fire.”
The initial reports of the incident were confused, and focused on the attack inside Pakistan. News reports speculated that the US military launched a Predator air strike or artillery attack on a Pakistani military outpost.
The Afghan Army and police and the US military have repelled a series of attacks in the border provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Khost over the past three weeks. The Taliban are attempting to destabilize the eastern region and overrun Afghan government centers and Coalition bases. Attacks in the east are up by more than 40 percent from last year, according to the US military. More than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed during the clashes. Many of the attacks have originated from Pakistan.
Tensions along the ill-defined, rugged border have escalated since the Pakistani government initiated its latest round of peace accords with the Taliban and allied extremists in the tribal areas and settled districts in the Northwest Frontier Province. Peace agreements have been signed with the Taliban in North Waziristan, Swat, Dir, Bajaur, Malakand, Mohmand, and Khyber. Negotiations are under way in South Waziristan, Kohat, and Mardan. The Taliban have violated the terms of these agreements in every region where accords have been signed.
3 Comments
In my opinion, widening the Afghan War into Pakistan is AQ and Taliban’s top priority.
Pakistan.
The first comment is concluded from undrstanding of the Afghanistan war and situation only from TV screen, news papers and media in general. The reality is the Afghans people not the Afghan militants who had arms in their hands, but the real fghan citizens some 90% were suffering greatly under their Taliban governemnt and they were silenced by gund and shot ont he spot if they worked against their Government. Thats the reality 90% afghan living in almost subhuman conditions. Im an AFghan I visited and saw my lost soul fellow Talib patriots walking and livinbg in darknes with no light in sight. If you think along those line which is the reality of it all, WHAT EVER THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE 9.11 THE WARS THE KILLINGS ETC ETC IT IS FOR THE BENEFIT OF AFGHANS IN THE LONG RUN AND TODAY. Many things including insurgency that takes place today is part of a political strategy to keep the fire alive and thats the only way many of our real problems will surface and hopefully be resolved.
Pakistan could stop the Taliban if they wanted to, but don’t care,, if they sent 50,000 troops and flooded the tribal regain and put check points every where, the Taliban would be defatted in months not years,.
if they where to do that, they would then teal India to send troop to there border as well, so there would be no where to go but back into Afghanistan to be killed, no safe havens for them.
But they don’t, why don’t they do this, it must be because they no hi tribal leader of the Taliban and
al-Quider,,, must, some hi people in government must no some of them