No need to launch a North Waziristan operation, it is already underway

Pakistani military commanders continue to insist there is no need for a military operation in North Waziristan as the military is already battling the Taliban and al Qaeda there. The latest claim comes from the commander of the Peshawar Corps. From SAMAA:

Core Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Asif Yasin, on Monday, ruled out rumors regarding a fresh offensive against terrorists, saying that an operation in North Waziristan is underway.

While speaking with journalists, he said that the army is targeting terrorists already. He further said that they have made a strategy to deal with the situation in case of the US army’s departure from Afghanistan.

More on that fictional stealth offensive in North Waziristan here. General Yasin technically could qualify as the winner of the Captain Louis Renault Award for December 2010, but since there is still a lot of time left, and the “North Waziristan Offensive” was the topic of the November 2010 award, we’ll pass. Also, someone at Pakistan Army General Headquarters really should decide if the offensive is underway, or ongoing, and get all of the generals on the same page.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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6 Comments

  • RT says:

    Bill,
    You’re behind times. Of course there’s an operation underway in North Waziristan. It’s called “Operation Move-the-assets”, they objective of which is to relocate the important Haqqani and other assets to Kurram and other parts of Pakistan.

  • Charu says:

    Time to retire the Captain Louis Renault Award and give it permanently to the Pakistani military. Perhaps a new award, the General Pervez Musharraf Award or the General Ashfaq Kayani Award, instead should be bestowed to anyone outside Pakistan caught barefaced lying.

  • James says:

    Pakistan knows that as long as there is an al queda and bin laden based in and located on it’s territory, and we think (I feel falsely so) we need them to continue to wage this war by proxy, it can stay on the “gravy train” of US military/economic aid.
    The people in power in Pakistan are nothing but a bunch of back-stabbers against US that would make Mussolini blush.
    Sadly, we have literally “outsourced” the defense of our nation and freedom and democracy in general to such a pitiful bunch.
    At least a suggestion of what to do about this situation? I say again that the “key” to our success and stability in that region is none other than India.
    What makes Pakistan shiver? Answer: India. Who “knows the turf” at least better than we do? Answer: India.
    At the very least, I will strongly suggest that our intelligence services get on the “same page” with India’s intelligence services before it’s too late for both India AND US.

  • Charu says:

    @Paul, thanks for these links. There is, however, a fatal flaw in Col. Sellin’s reasoning. Pakistan’s military use Kashmir as a convenient bogeyman to justify their virulent control over their nation and their delusional regional ambitions. If you take away Kashmir, they will find something else to keep the pot boiling with India. Furthermore, there is not really a direct threat to their Western flanks as much as it being a defensive measure to keep India from retaliating to their incessant brinkmanship; a shield while they thrust multiple knives into India. India would only attack along the Western front if Pakistan’s rogue military were to continue carrying out insane terrorist attacks against India, like the attack against the Indian parliament or the Mumbai massacres multiplied. No military-sponsored terrorism, and there will be nothing to fear from their western borders.
    It essentially boils down to Pakistan’s Punjabi elite’s deep-held delusion that they are the heirs of the Mughal empire and therefore the natural rulers of the subcontinent from Afghanistan to India. Never mind that every misadventure that they have indulged in has led to ignominious defeat and increasingly dire consequences to the stability of Pakistan. Their two-faced duplicity in Afghanistan may end up being the last straw that breaks this moth-eaten camel’s back.

  • Niranjan surana says:

    Dear Sir,
    Pakistan has still not cut off its birth cord.It takes itself victorious as it has got its existence out from a Hindu(Kafir) India.Pakistan military and its subsidieries finds its moral responsibilty to fight and kill anything which is not satisfied with its version of Islam.They will not take any lessons from the militancy and barbaric killing of innocent public in their own country contrary they are taking their stratgy of creating and nurturing militants as highly sucessful because USA has now decided to return back.Army and ISI send their regular soldiers in guise of militant to fight.Options are running out before civilized world to get united against this country and its nuclear blackmailing.

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