"The capacity of the Talibs to plan and execute terrorist activity has been disrupted," Military front man Maj Gen Asim Bajwa said while talking to Dawn.
The front man was discussing the progress achieved in Operation Zarb-e-Azb
..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)...
in North
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Wazoo and the intelligence-based operations carried out elsewhere in the country since the start of the operation on June 15.He said the operation was "proceeding as per plan and desired targets were being achieved". But he avoided quantifying the progress achieved.
The army claims to have cleared over 80 km of main road in North Waziristan and its three major population centres -- Mirali, Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a
ministatein centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
and Dattakhel. But importantly the much feared blowback of the military operation in the once Taliban stronghold has been avoided. Except for a couple of attacks on military installations and a few other minor strikes, holy warriors have not been able to carry out any major act of violence.
Gen Bajwa said the holy warriors were on the run now and they were carrying out sporadic attacks.
"They have been dislodged from their base, their command and control centre and logistic base has been destroyed, and their communication network has been smashed," he said.
Gen Bajwa avoided a direct comment on renunciation of violence by Punjabi Taliban led by Asmatullah Moavia, but there is a perception within the military that it was a result of the pressure generated by Zarb-e-Azb.
He regretted that Afghanistan was not extending commensurate cooperation.
"We have through military and diplomatic channels been asking Afghan authorities for cooperation, but they have not been forthcoming," he said.
The military claims to have eliminated over 1,000 TTP soldiers, including the second tier of the murderous Moslem leadership, but says the main leaders including the group's chief Maulvi Fazlullah were based in Afghanistan.
The military front man specifically underscored the success of over 2,200 operations across the country that had been undertaken as part of the newly-instituted 'Integrated Security Mechanism'.