Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead

Mr T

Senior Member
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Pakistan's Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against the Pakistani government, has been killed in a U.S. missile strike, a militant commander and aide to Mehsud said Friday.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad that intelligence showed Mehsud had been killed in Wednesday's missile strike on his father-in-law's house in Pakistan's lawless tribal area, but authorities would travel to the site to verify his death.

Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials said the CIA was behind the strike. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

"I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan," Taliban commander Kafayat Ullah told The Associated Press by telephone. He would not give any further details.

Mehsud's demise would be a major boost to Pakistani and U.S. efforts to eradicate the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Definitely good news. He'll be replaced but there's a great opportunity to exploit this event by pushing his former forces. At the very least it's a boost to morale for the Afghani/Pakistani/international forces and a blow to the Taleban.
 

Leeda

New Member
Registered Member
Definitely a good news. Now the couple of countries that are supporting taliban have to find a new poster child for this job.

And if u want to know about atleast one of the country please go and have a look at complete Question & Answer session "India Today Conclave" @ you tube.
 

Leeda

New Member
Registered Member
you have to mention Pervez Musharaf's name as well to find the right videos
 

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
Good riddance. Nobody will miss him. Now I believe that someone was saying in another thread that the CIA is no good at assassinations? :D

Like others have said he will be replaced, but his death is a blow nonetheless. His death will decrease the Taliban's effectiveness and split the movement some. All of that is good news in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now if only they could get Sirajuddin Haqqani.
 

Baibar of Jalat

Junior Member
Pakistan intelligence has been active in supporting US drone strikes. Just not publicly revealed. It took Google Earth to show couple of Predator drones parked in Pakistan, which says alot about cooperation. So it was most likely a joint operation.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
There was definitely some involvement/acceptance from the Pakistan government over the use of drones. But the recent successful attack will boost US-Pakistani ties and probably reduce criticism of the use of drones.

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The reported death of Baitullah Mehsud could be the biggest boost for relations between Pakistan and the United States since they joined forces against al-Qaeda and the Taleban after September 11, 2001. It could also help to quell some of the public anger over US drone strikes, which are launched from secret bases in Pakistan with the Government’s tacit approval, but often kill civilians as well as militants.

Pakistan has pressed the United States for at least two years to use its Predator and Reaper drones to target Mehsud, who has been blamed for numerous attacks on Pakistani soil, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Until recently, the CIA was reluctant to comply, preferring to focus on monitoring or attacking Taleban and al-Qaeda targets who, unlike Mehsud, were seen as direct threats to American interests. One senior officer in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency told The Times recently that a US drone had had Mehsud in its sights on at least one occasion but had not fired despite requests from Pakistan. That and other incidents had fostered the perception that Washington either had no interest in killing Pakistan’s enemies or was secretly supporting them. “What else could we conclude?” the intelligence officer said.

Under President Obama, however, there had been a change of thinking on Mehsud, especially after the Taleban took control of the northwestern region of Swat in April. US officials began to see the prospect of the Taleban taking over Pakistan or creating sufficient anarchy to seize its nuclear weapons as their single biggest security threat.

Intelligence also suggested that al-Qaeda leaders, pinned down by US drone strikes, were increasingly outsourcing terrorist attacks to Mehsud. The United States put a $5 million bounty on Mehsud’s head and began targeting him and other militants regardless of whether they had attacked American forces in Afghanistan.

“This is very positive news for Pakistan: some of this criticism of the US will now vanish,” Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Pakistani political and security analyst, said. “Those not affiliated with Islamic parties will do a lot of rethinking about drone strikes and about those people who accused the US of secretly supporting the Taleban.”

Mehsud’s death will not end the debate over drone strikes, which are still fiercely opposed by many Pakistani politicians, especially those from Islamist parties. Many moderate Pakistanis are also angry that their Government secretly allowed the CIA to launch drones from bases, including the Shamsi airstrip in Baluchistan.

The drone strikes are also controversial within the United States and among its allies, where many dispute their efficacy relative to the collateral damage they cause. Britainhas three Reaper drones in southern Afghanistan, but uses them only within that country as it considers strikes on Pakistan counter-productive.

Mehsud’s death will not disrupt the Taleban for long: there are many other rival or affiliated commanders waiting to take his place. But, more than any other event in the past eight years, it will convince at least some Pakistanis of the benefits of what they have long seen as a one-sided relationship.
 

Scratch

Captain
While it may really hamper coordination of the pakistani taleban cell for a few weeks, I don't think it'll have much of an influence on Afghanistan. Mehsud's group is oriented inside towards Pakistan. The different cell's are most likely not as closely connected as many believe.
It may, however, give the Pakistani security forces a chance to exploit some confusion and crack down on those organisations further.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
While it may really hamper coordination of the pakistani taleban cell for a few weeks, I don't think it'll have much of an influence on Afghanistan. Mehsud's group is oriented inside towards Pakistan. The different cell's are most likely not as closely connected as many believe.

I didn't draw a link between Pakistan and Afghanistan directly, but this is important because it will help the Pakistanis in their effort to regain control over the border provinces. In doing so they will severely hamper the Taliban's ability to attack targets in Afghanistan.
 

pla101prc

Senior Member
it can be a good or bad news depending on perspective. definitely a morale booster for NATO. but if washington wants to use this case to support continuation of unwarranted strikes inside Pakistani border, i dont think zardari would appreciate it much even though he is pretty pro-west. (even if he doesnt care the military does)
but dont expect the situation in Afghanistan to ameliorate all the sudden though. its gonna be a long fight
 

Mr T

Senior Member
Are the Pakistan Taliban already at each other's throats?

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Pakistan’s Taleban appeared to be in disarray today after reports of a deadly shootout between two contenders to replace Baitullah Mehsud, the Taleban leader killed in a CIA drone attack last week.

Officials say that Mehsud, who was Pakistan's most wanted man and had a $5 million bounty on his head, was killed in a missilte attack on a Taleban compound in South Waziristan last week.

Yesterday, reports surfaced of a deadly shooting a meeting of Taleban commanders callled to choose hid successor. The shootout was said to be between Wali-ur Rehman, the last warlord's main spokesman, and Hakimullah Mehsud, a powerful Taleban commander.

Rehman Malik, the Pakistani Interior Minister, said this morning that he believed one of the two men had been killed - although he would not say which.
 
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