Pakistan army has informed civilian leadership of the country that a military operation in North Waziristan has become inevitable, our sources in Islamabad said Tuesday morning.

On condition of anonymity our sources who have the ears of COAS General Kayani say that military leadership has white boarded the operation and taking adequate measures to manage risk.

“GHQ believes a concerted effort is required to shut down the safe haven in North Waziristan and create an environment where Pakistani people can feel safe and secure,” our source in Islamabad said.

Military leadership will inform the US National Security Adviser, James L. Jones, and CIA Director Leon Panetta who arrive in Islamabad today of their plan and seek their concrete support.

Visiting American officials will meet with top Pakistani government, military and intelligence officials in Islamabad Wednesday.

The Pakistani military has waged a fierce offensive against the Pakistani Talibans who are believed to responsible for several terrorist attacks attacks inside Pakistan.

The operation last fall in South Waziristan has dispersed the group in other areas of the FATA, including North Waziristan, where the Pakistani military is planning to launch operations against the Afghan Taliban network of Jalaluddin Haqqani and al-Qaeda. Pakistani army requires logistical support from their American counterpart as they “are stretched too thin.”

US National Security Adviser, James L. Jones, and CIA Director Leon Panetta are scheduled to meet Wednesday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari; Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, General Ashfaq Kiyani, and Lt. General. Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

“Pakistani leadership, both civilian and military, will demand expanded American support that goes beyond rhetoric of war against terrorism,” our source said. “Americans need to stop pontificating about our existential threat and provide tangible support and transparent engagements,” he added.

A day after Pakistan’s Interior Minister categorically denied ISI-CIA joint operation to capture Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, country’s military leadership confirmed that the Taliban’s second in command is in their custody.

In a written statement to press, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas stated that the Taliban leader was arrested 10 days ago in a joint operation by CIA and Pakistani security forces in Karachi.

The statement issued from Islamabad Wednesday said: ”At the conclusion of detailed identification procedures, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar,” adding, ”the place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons.”

Yesterday Examiner had reported that the chief of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, Lt. General Pasha approved the joint operation that led to the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Karachi earlier this month.

Our source who requested anonymity claims that Americans had shared some evidence of mid-level link between ISI and Taliban. “When ISI’s leadership learned of mid level interaction they gave orders to carry out a well planned raid,” our source said.

In Washington DC, spokesperson for the State Department Tuesday said “the United States and Pakistan work closely together on security issues in combating terrorism that threatens both of our societies. We have had a close relationship with the Pakistani Government and I suspect that we will continue to work with them in pursuance of a policy that blunts the ability of extremist groups to attack both of our societies.”

Pakistan has been under pressure ‘to do more’ and some analysts are expressing cautious optimism that the country maybe ready to completely de-link itself from some factions of Taliban.

Recent American assurance that Pakistan will have a ‘seat on the table’ in Afghanistan and that the US will keep India in check has gone a long way in building confidence. American leadership has also assured Pakistani military that Washington does not want to interfere in Pakistan’s internal politics.

American and Pakistani officials have claimed that Mullah Baradar had the responsibility of over-all operation of the Quetta Shura, a faction of the Taliban allegedly based in the southwestern Pakistani city.
American security analysts claim that remnants of Taliban have coalesced and reconstituted an insurgent force in the Baluchistan city of Quetta and call themselves Quetta Shura. Pakistan has so far denied presence of Quetta Shura.

Although Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik denied that it was a joint operation but everyone else in the position of power has confirmed that ISI was aided by Americans in this well planned and extremely secret operation.

“Lt. Gen Pasha kept this operation very close to his chest and even those ISI agents who went on the raid didn’t know the real identity of the target,” our source said.

In a move that indicates global consensus on recognizing ‘moderate’ Taliban, the United Nations Security Council last night removed five known leaders of Taliban from its sanctions list. The move comes two days ahead of a conference on Afghanistan in London

UNSC statement said five members of the ousted Taliban government who were on the blacklist can now travel freely and freeze on their assets have been lifted.

Several Afghan leaders including President Hamid Karzai have advocated that names Taliban members should be removed from the list. He was expected to raise this issue at a conference on Afghanistan in London tomorrow.

Diplomats at the the UN claim that those removed from the list were “moderate Taliban officials” with whom President Karzai could start a dialogue.

The former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil who was also taken off the list has demanded that the UN and the US to remove all the names on their blacklists. The other four ex-ministers removed from the UN list are Faiz Mohammad Faizan, Shams-US-Safa, Mohammad Musa, and Abdul Hakim.

President Karzai expects to gain support of the West this week in London conference to negotiate more with the ‘moderate’ Talibans. He claims there are “thousands and thousands and thousands” of moderate Taliban who needs to be reintegrated in the Afghan society.

Following the deadly attack on a volleyball game that killed 99 people in the remote northwest of Pakistan, the country’s military leadership has decided to expand it’s operations to North Waziristan, multiple sources in Islamabad and Washington DC told us today.

A Pakistani village that tried to resist Taliban infiltration was struck with grief in an apparent revenge suicide bombing at an outdoor volleyball game. The village lies in Lakki Marwat district near South Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal region where the army has battled the Pakistani Taliban since October.

“Government of Pakistan is under tremendous pressure. They have to take the war of terror to wherever insurgents are hiding,” said a source privy to Islamabad’s decision.

The American media has been reporting that Pakistan is not willing to take the fight to North Waziristan insinuating that there is a divergence of interests. Quoting American officials, LA Times and AP reported last week that the Obama administration is frustrated with Pakistan military’s strategy of going after Taliban in only selective areas.

Americans wanted the Pakistan army to expand operations into North Waziristan to dismantle the Haqqani network. The Pakistan military was gearing up to drive militants from the surrounding tribal regions of Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber – areas that Taliban are using to assemble and re-launch.

Pakistan has been reluctant to open multiple fronts because of the lack of manpower and equipment. Approximately 30,000 soldiers were engaged in South Waziristan and prior to that in the Swat Valley.

Military operations in the Swat valley and later in South Waziristan drove Taliban to surrounding tribal regions of Orakzai and Khurram. In the last weeks of 2009 the Pakistan airforce had increased the velocity of airstrikes in those areas to prevent militants from establishing new bases.

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani had also announced that the next deployment of ground troops will target Orakzai.

“Contrary to how it was portrayed in the American media, Pakistan army’s operation and tactical decisions are based on immediate threats, resource availability and possibility of success,” said a Pakistani official on condition of anonymity. “It is irresponsible to think that we are not going after any particular network of Taliban,” he said referring to reports that Pakistan does not want to go after the Haqqani network.

But due to the recent spate of violence Pakistan army has changed its plan and North Waziristan operation will began shortly.

The Obama administration’s pressure on Pakistan’s military leadership is yielding some results, says a reliable source in Washington DC, as ISI and CIA are teaming-up to intensify operations in Baluchistan

A senior Pakistani official told us today that the ISI and CIA have conducted over fifty joint operations recently. “These are very complex engagements. CIA and ISI depend on each other for not only success of these operations but to watch each other’s back,” official said stressing under the apparent tension – there is solid cooperation between two intelligence agencies.

Other Pakistani government officials complain that their army is overstretched and under- appreciated for handling vicious terrorists in Swat, South Waziristan and Orakzai.

The Obama administration has sent several senior officials to Islamabad in the past two weeks urging Pakistan to tackle North Waziristan and allow drone strikes into the western province of Balochistan.

“We feel joint targeted operations are more successful in Balochistan. Drone attacks will be counterproductive,” said the Pakistani official. He acknowledges that the Obama administration is becoming more ‘demanding’ and has warned General Kayani that “you do it, or we will”.

A senior civilian adviser to America’s special forces commander in Afghanistan, Seth Jones in his New York Times article, Take the war to Pakistan, has argued that the Afghan war is “run and organized out of Balochistan” by the Quetta shura, a 15-man war council led by the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. “Virtually all significant meetings of the Taliban take place in that province, and many of the group’s senior leaders and military commanders are based there,” he said.

Pakistan army’s ‘secretive’ relations with American counterpart are no surprise.

During Musharaf’s tenure, according to a report in Guardian today, American Special Forces had conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan’s tribal areas.  A former NATO officer told the Guardian that the incursions occurred between 2003 and 2008, and involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night.

“While public opinion has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the tribal areas, any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation,” the Guardian claims.

This dynamic  has changed. The Pakistan Army does not want to allow drone attacks in Baluchistan and would rather conduct joint operations.

The CIA-ISI relationship is extremely complex: on the one hand we learn about how these two agencies are working together but through consistent leaks we are often told a different story – that they are devoid of any semblance of trust. Below are recently declassified CIA documents that accuse ISI of playing ‘double game’ during Genereal Musharaf’s rule.