Terror nexus
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Pakistan has flagged an existential threat that it faces from a fugitive and outlawed organisation based in Afghanistan. The United Nations Security Council has once again been informed that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the TTP, is freely operating from the West Asian state, and all efforts on the part of Islamabad to persuade the authorities in Kabul to move against them have fallen on deaf ears.
This past Tuesday, it was brought on record before the 15-member world body by Pakistan's envoy that the TTP is the largest UN-designated terrorist group operating from Afghan soil with an estimated strength of around 6,000 fighters, posing a direct threat to Pakistan's national security. The spike in terrorist activities inside Pakistan during the last two years is a case in point, and the TTP has now struck a nexus with other non-state actors including Al-Qaeda and Baloch militant groups.
Pakistan is in a catch-22 situation as it confronts terrorism from its western and eastern frontiers, and the new revulsion on the Iranian front has made the strategic equation more worrisome. The intensity could be gauged from the fact that Pakistan has confiscated a huge cache of modern weapons abandoned by the US forces while leaving Afghanistan in a state of lurch.
Unscrupulous entities have laid their hands on this armament which has led to massive bloodshed in Pakistan, especially in the restive provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. This is where Kabul's cooperation is desired along with a trans-regional counter-terrorism understanding to exterminate the terror nexus. The role of the US and the UNSC is essential if this simmering threat perception has to be dealt with in a sophisticated manner so that the evolving geo-economics is saved from waywardness.
The mushrooming of terrorists, incidentally, has taken a new turn as India-backed proxies are now raising their ugly head. The killing of 11 'khwarij' at the hands of security forces yesterday during intelligence-based operations in K-P amplifies the threat module, and is in need of being tackled lethally. This evolving trepidation must come to an end.
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Express Tribune
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Terror nexus
Listen to article Pakistan has flagged an existential threat that it faces from a fugitive and outlawed organisation based in Afghanistan. The United Nations Security Council has once again been informed that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the TTP, is freely operating from the West Asian state, and all efforts on the part of Islamabad to persuade the authorities in Kabul to move against them have fallen on deaf ears. This past Tuesday, it was brought on record before the 15-member world body by Pakistan's envoy that the TTP is the largest UN-designated terrorist group operating from Afghan soil with an estimated strength of around 6,000 fighters, posing a direct threat to Pakistan's national security. The spike in terrorist activities inside Pakistan during the last two years is a case in point, and the TTP has now struck a nexus with other non-state actors including Al-Qaeda and Baloch militant groups. Pakistan is in a catch-22 situation as it confronts terrorism from its western and eastern frontiers, and the new revulsion on the Iranian front has made the strategic equation more worrisome. The intensity could be gauged from the fact that Pakistan has confiscated a huge cache of modern weapons abandoned by the US forces while leaving Afghanistan in a state of lurch. Unscrupulous entities have laid their hands on this armament which has led to massive bloodshed in Pakistan, especially in the restive provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. This is where Kabul's cooperation is desired along with a trans-regional counter-terrorism understanding to exterminate the terror nexus. The role of the US and the UNSC is essential if this simmering threat perception has to be dealt with in a sophisticated manner so that the evolving geo-economics is saved from waywardness. The mushrooming of terrorists, incidentally, has taken a new turn as India-backed proxies are now raising their ugly head. The killing of 11 'khwarij' at the hands of security forces yesterday during intelligence-based operations in K-P amplifies the threat module, and is in need of being tackled lethally. This evolving trepidation must come to an end.
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Number one, militarily we won't," he said, adding that he thought "we'll end up having something of a relationship with Iran" to resolve the issue. Also Read: US Intelligence report contradicts Trump's claim on Iran nuclear strikes success The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, dismissed what he called the "hourglass approach" of assessing damage to Iran's nuclear programme in terms of months needed to rebuild as besides the point for an issue that needed a long-term solution. "In any case, the technological knowledge is there and the industrial capacity is there. That, no one can deny. So we need to work together with them," he said. His priority was returning international inspectors to Iranian nuclear sites, which he said was the only way to find out precisely what state they were in. IRAN President hints at domestic reforms Israel's bombing campaign, launched with a surprise attack on June 13, wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military leadership and killed leading nuclear scientists. Iran responded with missiles that pierced Israel's defences in large numbers for the first time. Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed and nearly 5,000 injured in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on media. Twenty-eight people were killed in Israel. Israel claimed to have achieved its goals of destroying Iran's nuclear sites and missiles; Iran claimed to have forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences. Trump said both sides were exhausted but the conflict could restart. 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Also Read: NATO allies agree to boost military budgets after Trump pressure Her grandchildren were worried that the authorities would respond by imposing more severe enforcement of dress codes and other restrictions on social freedoms, she said by phone: "The world will move on and forget about the war – but we're the ones who will live with its consequences." In Tel Aviv, Rony Hoter-Ishay Meyer, 38, said the war's end brought mixed emotions – relief that children could return to school and normal life resume, but exhaustion from the stress. "Those past two weeks were catastrophic in Israel and we are very much exhausted and we need to get back to our normal energy."
