Taliban, Al Qaeda now focused on Pakistan, says US general
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Jan 23: A top US general warned on Wednesday that the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants have postponed their spring offensive in Afghanistan as they want to focus on their efforts to destabilise the Pakistani government.
Major-General David Rodriguez, who commands US forces in eastern Afghanistan, said the militants’ change of plan could already be seen in the areas bordering Pakistan where Taliban infiltrations have reduced significantly.
“I don't think there'll be a big spring offensive this year,” he said.
Earlier this month, US officials warned that the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces were planning a major offensive this spring and last week Defence Secretary Robert Gates approved the deployment of an additional 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan.
But Gen. Rodriguez told a Pentagon news conference that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, who operate from bases in the tribal belt, have now shifted their focus toward targets inside Pakistan rather than across the border in Afghanistan.
“The political turmoil in Pakistan is one reason fewer militants are crossing the border this year compared to last,” he said.
The militants, he warned, saw new opportunities to accelerate instability inside Pakistan. “So I think that again they will move where the best opportunity is so as to get the highest pay-offs,” said the general while explaining the new shift in the militants’ strategy.
“Right now that probably seems to be in Pakistan based on what's happened over the last couple of months there.”
He said the Pakistani military was aware of this threat, and had begun to make preparations to meet the challenge.
“They are working, for example, to develop a better capacity to do counter-insurgency operations like any other nation because that has not been their forte,” he said.” They are adjusting their military right now to do those things.”
Rodriguez said US forces in Afghanistan communicated and shared information with the Pakistanis, but he knew of no plans to conduct unilateral operations inside Pakistan.
“We have no plans that I'm involved in, or even heard of, to do anything like that. So I'm not going to comment on it,” he said.
