Targeting Taliban leaders by US to kill chances for peace: Pak officials

AVA- Pakistani officials have said the government leaders in Islamabad have conveyed their concerns in this regard to the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during visit to the country, insisting such an option would kill the changes for peace.

“We insisted that it will be unrealistic to crush the Taliban leaders. How is it possible to kill them and expect them to come to the table at the same time,” a Pakistani official said Daily Times.

However, in contrast to Pakistani officials opposition, the Afghan defense officials welcomed the decision of Washington to target the Taliban leaders.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Gen. Dawlat Waziri said Monday that the Afghan security forces will also increase operations against the Taliban militants.

Gen. Waziri further added that the Afghan security forces are currently conducting scores of operations, including airstrikes, special operations and night raids on militants hideouts

This comes as reports emerged earlier suggesting that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is sending small teams of highly experienced officers and contractors to hunt and kill Taliban militants across the country.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo earlier also said that the United States wants to beat the Taliban in the battlefield first to force them to negotiate peace with the government in Kabul. This is also a key component of the policy US President Donald Trump announced in his address to the American nation on Aug 21.

“President (Trump) has made it very clear. We are going to do everything we can … to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan with the Taliban having zero hope that they can win this thing on the battlefield,” the CIA chief said during his speech at a US think tank last week.