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KUALA LUMPUR Pakistans offensive in South Waziristan has been 'very successful' and the military is likely to achieve most of its objectives before winter sets in, the foreign minister said Sunday.
Since October 17 some 30,000 Pakistani troops have been waging a major assault against Taliban fighters hiding out in the formidable terrain of South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the military has made significant headway in the region, part of the tribal belt where United States officials say Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on the west.
'The operation so far has been very successful. The resistance that we were expecting initially did not come with the same stiffness as we expected,' he said on the sidelines of a conference of developing nations in Kuala Lumpur.
'We would want to achieve our objectives as much as possible before the winter sets in. It seems, as things are going on right now, that we might be able to do so,' he said.
'That area becomes very cold so we want to operate and establish our foothold before that,' he said. Qureshi would not give a date, but winter sets in around mid-December in that region.
Qureshi said that many important towns and locations were now in the control of Pakistans army and that 'quite a few' militants had been killed or arrested.
'We are moving ahead, the entire region has been surrounded... to choke supply lines and minimise their effectiveness,' he said.
'The leadership that was located in South Waziristan is on the run, they are in retreat and there is disarray there.'
The military said last week that 264 militants and 31 soldiers have been killed, but the information cannot be confirmed independently because the area is a closed combat zone.
Analysts had said that Pakistans military faced tough odds to smash Taliban networks in South Waziristan, an impenetrable terrain infested with some of the most dangerous militants in the world.
Numerous previous offensives in the tribal belt have had limited success.
