US Senator points out safe heavens of Taliban in Pakistan

Chairwoman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Dianne Feinstein, said that the Taliban could be defeated militarily in Afghanistan but the job was not done, claiming that the insurgents have safe heavens in Pakistan.

While interviewing to Fox News, the US Senator claimed that the Taliban still have control more than a third of the populated areas of Afghanistan.

She expressed frustration, saying that Pakistan has failed to deprive the militants of a safe harbor in the rugged mountainous region.

She observed, “Militarily, I think the Taliban are not going to beat us. But the Taliban have a safe harbor in Pakistan and the Pakistanis are doing nothing to abate that safe haven”.

Feinstein said what the insurgents have done was suggest itself in an indistinct presence with shadow governors. They have control over a third of the land which people live and expanded into the north, into the northeast, she added.

The Senator noted down, “And while we were there in one province, they closed 14 schools in 17 districts and then they killed five education officials and wounded others. And now, there’s this latest assassination of someone who’s been a leader in the Peace Council”.

In the latest attempt, unknown armed men killed a key peace negotiator and member of the Afghan’s High Peace Council on Sunday, in Kabul, the metropolis city of Afghanistan.

It will deal another blow to efforts to dialogue a peace accord with the insurgents, she added.

Gunmen shot dead a top Afghan peace negotiator in the capital Kabul on Sunday, dealing another blow to attempts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.

Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, 68, was one of the most senior and important members on Afghanistan’s High Peace Council set up by President Hamid Karzai two years ago to communicate with the militants. The Taliban, however, denied their involvement in the assassination.

The US Senator pointed out, “What this does is demonstrated to many of us that the Taliban is just waiting to come back” when US troops leave the country over the next few years”.

She informed that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had assured her during his visit to Afghanistan last month the he would not permit the insurgents to return to power.

Assurance by the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, that the number of trained Afghan troops will reach 362,000 was very positive, she stated.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 14 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.