New boss, new rules: Taliban says talks are off in Pakistan
A spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban said they would launch revenge attacks against Prime Minister Sharif's government in retaliation for the death of their former leader by US drone strike.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban said they would launch revenge attacks against Prime Minister Sharif's government in retaliation for the death of their former leader by US drone strike.
A daily roundup of global reports on security issues
The Pakistan Taliban 鈥� after electing a hardline leader yesterday 鈥� has issued new threats against the Pakistani government and denounced peace talks in the latest domestic snarl to emerge after a US drone strike killed the previous Pakistan Taliban leader last week.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) said they would launch revenge attacks against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government in retaliation for the death of former leader Hakimullah Mehsud.
鈥淎ll areas will come under attack, but Punjab [Pakistan鈥檚 most populous province] will come first,鈥� TTP member Asmatullah Shaheen told CNN. Mr. Shaheen also told the broadcaster that Mr. Sharif had turned Pakistan into a 鈥渃olony鈥� of the United States.
Mullah Fazlullah, the TTP鈥檚 new leader, has yet to make a public statement since his election Thursday. A cleric and former radio show host, Mr. Fazlullah is known for staging dramatic publicity stunts and for his leadership of the Taliban faction responsible for shooting schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.
The election of Fazlullah 鈥� who is widely believed to have been hiding in Afghanistan and to have ties to Afghan militants 鈥� and the furious response from domestic politicians to the drone strike threaten to complicate already thorny relations between US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan ahead of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.
Daniel Markey, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of 鈥淣o Exit from Pakistan: America鈥檚 Tortured Relationship with Islamabad鈥� wrote in The Washington Post yesterday that the decision to eliminate Mehsud represents "a possible turning point," but only if it is carefully managed:
Arif Rafiq asked in Foreign Policy whether the killing of Mehsud was 鈥淎 bad time to kill a bad man鈥� because it has made the civilian government 鈥渁lready under severe聽criticism聽for its handling of the economy and terrorism, look impotent.鈥�
海角大神's correspondent Saba Imtiaz reported from Pakistan last week on how much rhetoric has changed in Pakistan over the past few years:
Yet, as Ms. Imtiaz explains, the process for peace talks was never clear to begin with.
A key player to watch will be the Pakistani Army, who was never entirely on board with peace talks, according to Foreign Policy: