sum wrote:New chief of Pak Taliban faction fought Indian troops in J-K
The US intelligence officials denied reports that the Pakistani military and government aided in the drone strike against Nazir.
They said the Pakistanis were "upset over the killing".
"These reports (that Pakistan aided in Nazir's death) are preposterous," said one official involved in targeting Al Qaeda and other terrorist leaders in Pakistan.
"Nazir was an asset to and a tool of the Pakistani state," the official said. "If the Pakistanis wanted to remove Nazir from the playing field, they could have easily done so," another intelligence official said. There is an army garrison in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan where Nazir operated, the official said.
"The Pakistanis are piqued that we've killed Nazir," another official said. "We just knocked off a good Taliban, or to them, perhaps the best Taliban."
Seems to be a Amriki size 13 on the mush of TSPA
sum, I do not believe that it was a Size 13 to the TSPA's hinds. The US will not do anything to upset the TSPA at this crucial stage when they are seeking an honourable-looking and a bloodless exit from the Afghan quagmire. One can easily predict that there will be a divorce (sixth, won't it be ?) after the neo-Geneva accord.
The Americans and the TSPA are playing a drama here. Though Maulvi Nazeer (of SWA) and Gul Bahadur (of NWA) have indeed been having an uncomfortable co-existence with the Mehsuds as part of TTP, they all owe allegiance to Mullah Omar. Of course, TSPA could have easily taken out Maulvi Nazeer but they would have lost the Waziri support in South Waziristan where they have already lost the Mehsud support. That would have meant SWA would have become out of bounds for the TSPA and they have a large contingent present there bottled up in fort-like garrisons scattered all over the place. Their lives & limbs would be in grave danger if the Waziris & Mehsuds decide to bury their enmity (even if only temporarily) for fighting a common enemy, the TSPA.
Another reason why TSPA could not have finished off Maulvi Nazeer is that he was very close personally to Mullah Omar. TSPA cannot afford to antagonize Mullah Omar. So, what better way to get rid of him than asking the 'born-again tight buddy' to do so on their behalf and pretend as though they were upset and ask American buddies to mouth lies ?
If the Americans feel that the TSPA has lost an 'asset' and that they could have easily eliminated him anytime if they really wanted to do so, that nameless US official must be asked if the American have ever indeed asked TSPA to do so and what was their response ? After all, Maulvi nazeer was an implacable enemy of the US and was sending soldiers into Afghanistan to fight, kill and maim the Americans.
Why was the TSPA interested in taking out Maulvi Nazeer ? We can only hazard a guess. He should have been a stumbling block in resuming dialogue with the TTP and TSPA might have concluded that his elimination was the only way. Maulvi Nazeer had everything to lose if GoP/TSPA recognized Hakimullah Mehsud as TTP leader and have peace deal with him. Maulvi Nazeer might have also threatened the TSPA with spilling the beans, of which he might have some. All the news reports of TTP's peace offer emerged only after Maulvi Nazeer was seriously injured in a suicide attack on him a couple of weeks earlier. When the suicide attack failed to eliminate him, he was taken out with a drone immediately thereafter. Soon, all kinds of stakeholders within Pakistan have been speaking of the peace dialogue with the TTP.
Within the TTP, there are two groups. One, under the control of Hakimullah Mehsud and the other under the combined control of Maulvi Nazeer and Gul Bahadur. The former are stronger in terms of numbers and geographical spread while the latter are confined to just the Waziristans. The Mehsuds have accommodated the Uzbeks among them after they fled from Afghanistan and the particularly vicious Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is close to Hakimullah Mehsud. Besides, the Punjabi Taliban (a loose term that includes many Punjab-based terror tanzeems of the Deobandi/Salafi/Wahhabi/Takfiri dispensation) are also with Hakimullah Mehsud. There are some pointers here from Col. Imam's capture and assassination two years back. At that time, it was the Hakimullah Mehsud's group that held him captive and eventually an unheard of Punjabi group claimed to have killed him for being a US spy. Maulvi Nazeer vowed to take revenge for this proving close connections between him, Col Imam and the TSPA. In fact, Hamid Gul was also furious and predicted bad times for Hakimullah Mehsud for Col. Imam's death. The Punjabi Taliban are aligned with Hakimullah's group. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, Amir of HuJI and the original Punjabi Taliban, fled to South Wairistan after 9/11. Ilyas Kashmiri, who was initially the head of HuJI's Kashmiri chapter who later became Al Qaeda's operational commander, was eventually kiiled in South Waziristan. In this milieu, Maulvi Nazeer was not a significant partner though he was close to Mullah Omar, participated in Afghan operations by lending foot soldiers and was friendly to TSPA.
Because of the strength of the Hakimullah Mehsud faction,it is reasonable to assume that the TSPA has decided it is better to have an understanding with them and eliminate anyone opposed to that. This is in view of the developments in Afghanistan. The fate of Gul Bahadur in NWA also now hangs in balance. What will happen to the other Gul, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul now ? I see many more names on the 'list'.