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| India-Pakistan |
| 'Benazir was killed in Qaeda-Taliban operation' |
| 2008-01-17 |
| Given the Baitullah Mahsud audiotape and Al Qaeda’s history of targeting former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and deploying assassins and suicide attackers, there is little doubt that the Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman was killed in a joint Taliban-Qaeda operation, according to noted terrorism expert Peter Bergen. Stressing that Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups have long harboured antipathy for Benazir, Bergen, a CNN expert on terrorism and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, writes in the upcoming issue of the New Republic that according to conversations he has had with several American counter-terrorism officials, a number of groups that were once relatively distinct – a hundred-odd remnants of (Osama) Bin Laden’s team, a couple of hundred “freelance” foreign fighters, several thousand members of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, and tens of thousands of Pakistani extremists – have, since September 11, blended into one big family. He says that four days after two suicide bombers tried to kill Benazir in October, she met US embassy staff asking for protection. The following day, a Western official specialising in security met the PPP leader to tell her that having Americans on her security detail would make her an even bigger target. He suggested that she hire a local security firm instead and provided a list of the three best firms in Pakistan. She was unconvinced. Foreigners’ protection: A long-time confidant of Benazir’s told Bergen that the PPP was suspicious of [hiring] Wackenhut because it employs many Pakistanis; Benazir wanted a security firm staffed by foreigners. But, for that, the PPP needed permission from the Interior Ministry, which the confidant says was never given. Nothing to gain: Bergen also argues that President Pervez Musharraf had nothing to gain from Benazir’s death. He has lost whatever shred of popularity he had left since the assassination. Nor is it likely that senior military commanders, who have a strong interest in maintaining Pakistan’s stability, would be involved. It is also relevant to the Al Qaeda thesis that, in the past several years, Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan have morphed together, ideologically and tactically. The Taliban [group] conceives of itself as part of the wider global jihad spearheaded by Al Qaeda and deploys Al Qaeda-like suicide attacks, something it had previously eschewed. |
| Posted by:Fred |