WASHINGTON (Agencies) – Al-Qaeda has ‘blown it’ through its excessive brutality and is now under ‘fantastic pressure’ because of the loss of key leaders, US envoy Richard Holbrooke said Sunday.
Holbrooke said the organisation that masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States now was less an organisation that plans attacks than one that seeks to inspire Muslims to jihad. He said the US administration takes the view that ‘they have, in a sense, blown it’.
In an interview with CNN, Holbrooke said Al-Qaeda’s top external operations chief and 10 to 12 other key leaders have been eliminated in the past year ‘by activities’, an apparent allusion to US drone attacks in Pakistan’s border tribal areas. “They are under fantastic pressure,” he said.
Holbrooke acknowledged that there were still ‘terrible incidents’ like the suicide attack by a Jordanian double agent in late December that killed eight people at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan. But he said Al-Qaeda’s excessive brutality had diminished their ideological appeal.
At the same time, he said, relations between the United States and Pakistan have significantly improved over the past year. “We feel clearly that we’re working more closely together with them. And I think that’s a very big step forward,” he said.
He said the Pakistanis have moved over 100,000 troops from their eastern border with India to the western border areas that the Taliban have long used as a safe haven. “They have two divisions in Swat right now. They have several other divisions in the south. Of course, it would be extremely valuable to go in North Waziristan. Everyone understands that,” he said.
But he said it was for the Pakistani Army to assess the situation and decide where to put its resources.
“In the last 13 months, since this (Obama) Administration took over, there has been a significant improvement across the board in the relationship between our government and the government of Pakistan,” Holbrooke said.
The American diplomat saw erosion of distinction between Afghan and Pakistan Taliban, if such a distinction ever existed, and remarked that a combination of Pakistanis’ developing a strong awareness in reaction to the Taliban brutality and high-level US-Pakistan engagement had contributed to an evolution.
“All of this, plus the recognition that the distinction between Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban, if it ever existed, has eroded, and it has led the Pakistan to take a much more forward-leaning position,” he said.
“There was above all a backlash from the excesses of the Taliban in Swat, South Waziristan and their attacks in places like Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Karachi, have all contributed to an evolution.”
Citing the top American officials’ meetings with Pakistani civilian leadership including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, besides Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, he said “We feel clearly that we are working more closely together with them. And I think that is a very big step forward.”
“Pakistanis captured the number two person of the (Afghan) Taliban, Mullah Baradar. That is a big deal.”
“Of course, it will be extremely valuable for them to go in North Waziristan. Everyone understands that. But that is for the Pakistani Army to decide based on their resources and their assessment of the situation. We all know that if you spread yourself too thin, there can be a backlash. And I leave that to General Kayani,” he added.
Responding to a question about the political stability in the country, Holbrooke said, “It is an internal process,” but noted a constructive democratic improvement in the situation when compared to what it was a year ago.
According to Holbrooke, political competition has now returned to the same kind that people are familiar with in the United States.
“It involves an opposition party, led by Nawaz Sharif, the government of President Zardari; it involves the discussions they are having, and the military has said very clearly that they don’t want to get involved.”