Pak witnessing increase in influx of foreign militants: Report

Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:07 am

The number of foreign militants entering Pakistan’s restive tribal areas to join the Taliban- backed extremists in the region, has witnessed a sharp rise particularly since the new government launched negotiations with tribal leaders, a media report said today (July 10).

The flow may reflect a change that is making Pakistan, not Iraq, the preferred destination for some Sunni extremists from Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia who are seeking to take up arms against the West, ‘the New York Times’ said, quoting American military and intelligence officials.

The suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the daily said, underscored increasing fears of American and Afghan officials that Taliban insurgents working with Pakistani intelligence operatives might have used the bombing to pursue Pakistan’s long power struggle with India.

The American officials told the paper that the influx, which could be in dozens or even higher, shows a further strengthening of the position of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas.

Many of the fighters making their way to the tribal areas are Uzbeks, North Africans and Arabs from Persian Gulf states, they said.

The intelligence officials were quoted as saying that some “jihadist websites” have been encouraging foreign militants to go to Pakistan and Afghanistan, which is considered a “winning fight,” compared with the insurgency in Iraq, which has suffered sharp setbacks recently.

Especially since the new Pakistani government sharply curtailed security operations in tribal areas in March and began negotiating with tribal leaders, the number of foreign fighters entering the tribal areas has increased “from a trickle to a steady stream,” the ‘Times’ quoted a Defence Department official, who follows Pakistan closely, as saying.

(PTI)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Pak witnessing increase in influx of foreign militants: Report

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