Is The Afghan - Pakistan Covert War About To 'Heat-Up'?

BBC

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Afghanistan-Pakistan: The Covert War -- Umar Farooq, The Diplomat

With the impending drawdown of U.S. forces, a largely overlooked conflict has the potential to explode.

When American special forces plucked the second in command of the Pakistani Taliban from the hands of Afghan officials this October, they laid bare the extent of a largely covert war between Afghanistan and Pakistan that has been going on for several years. With a drawdown – perhaps even to zero – of U.S. troops from Afghanistan next year, the secret war might just become an open one.

The capture of Latif Mehsud proved to be an embarrassment for the Afghans, and a vindication for Pakistan, which has long complained that the Pakistani Taliban – called the Tehrik -e-Taliban (TTP) – receives support from Karzai’s government. Afghanistan and the United States, for their part, have laid the blame for a 12-year insurgency at Pakistan’s feet, saying its intelligence agencies support the most effective insurgency group, led by Jalaluddin Haqqani.

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My Comment: Pakistan's support of the Haqqani insurgent network .... a group which has inflicted the most damage on Afghan and U.S. forces in the past decade .... has riled many in Afghanistan. Afghan support of the Pakistani Taliban insurgent group is (I guess) the Afghan way of telling Pakistan that two can play this game. I expect this "covert conflict" to heat up .... especially when most foreign military forces have left the country by the end of this year.