Taliban as deadly and unmarked despite Pak Army's 'broken back' claims

Ottawa, Mar.13 (ANI): After brief lull in violence and bloodshed in the country, Lahore was rattled with a series of bomb blasts in Friday, which has certainly put a question mark over the claims of the political and military leadership that the Taliban's back has been broken.

The series of blasts that killed at least 45 persons and injured over 100 in Lahore, the bustling cultural hub of country, certainly proves the point that the Taliban is not down and out yet, and neither it's tenacity to strike at will has subsided.

According to Stratfor, a private U.S.-based intelligence firm, the attacks have proved that the Taliban will continue to target innocent civilians in the country unless the Pakistan Army crushes its head completely and dismantles the rapidly expanding 'jihad' network.

"What is clear, even now, is that the Pakistani Taliban will continue to carry out attacks until Pakistani security forces, which have demonstrated considerable progress in the last 10 months, are able to inflict debilitating damage on the jihadist rebel network in the country," a Stratfor report said.

Analysts also believe that the notion regarding the Taliban suffering heavy blows are not borne out by facts, and that the war against insurgency is going to be a long one.

"They are trying to project their power, telling the government that they are still alive. They are still far from broken. It's going to be a long haul," The Globe and Mail quoted Imtiaz Gul, an expert, as saying.

After the Pakistan Army launched an all out war against the Taliban in the tribal areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the militants from the region have joined forces with militant groups based in the Punjab province, and all have closely allied to Al-Qaeda, to form a nexus that can strike anywhere in the country.

While both the Pakistani military and political leadership have concentrated only on the Taliban, militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Sipah-e-Sahaba, which an off-shoot of the LeJ, have gone untouched, which appears to be the biggest flaw in Pakistan's counter-insurgency strategy, the newspaper said. (ANI)