Reform Pak security apparatus to dismantle terror networks: Experts

Washington, Apr.18 : An expert on South Asian affairs has said that the terror networks in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's border areas can only be neutralised or dismantled if Pakistan security and intelligence apparatus is reformed.

Echoing the views of assassinated former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation and James Phillips, a Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, claim that before her tragic death, Bhuttoold an interviewer that dismantling the terrorist networks that threatened the unity of Pakistan would be difficult unless the Pakistani security apparatus is reformed.

According to a recent Strategic Forecasting analysis, extremists have aggressively used their connections in the state's security and intelligence apparatus to conduct their operations.

Both Curtis and Phillips believe that completely severing these links will take time, and add that a "strong leadership in the intelligence and security services" is the need of the hour in Pakistan.

They further go onto say that disenchantment with the recent wave of suicide bombings may provide an opportunity to draw clearer lines between the violent extremists and nationalistic Pakistanis.

They believe that Afghanistan has made tremendous progress since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban dictatorship, but this progress is threatened by a growing insurgency, mounting regional instability, and a disjointed and under-resourced international response.

The mission in Afghanistan requires a steadfast commitment to providing security for Afghan civilians, rooting out the Taliban and other Islamic extremists, boosting the Afghan economy, and helping the Afghans to build a responsive government that will be an effective ally in the war on terrorism, they conclude.

ANI