Taliban Rebuilding Explosive Capabilities

By: Farhan Bokhari
Topics: Afghanistan

Map of Pakistan

(Credit: CBS)

Taliban militants operating in Pakistan's border region along Afghanistan "have significantly rebuilt their capacity to use large amounts of explosives" in carrying out terrorist attacks, a senior Pakistani security official warned on Sunday after the latest suicide attack in the region killed at least seven people.

A lone suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck in a police station in the Kohat region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a province earlier known as the NWFP, early on Sunday.

This latest attack came just a day after two suicide attacks killed at least 41 people on Saturday targeting camps of internally displaced people who fled fighting between Taliban militants and the Pakistan army in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistani security officials in the region said the truck was loaded with up to 250 kilograms of explosives. A senior Pakistani security official speaking on the condition of anonymity to CBS News from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa said, "The evidence pieced together between attacks on Saturday and Sunday suggests that these militants have re-assembled a good part of their arsenal. They now have the capacity to launch further attacks."

A second security official speaking on condition of anonymity to CBS News in Islamabad agreed with the first official, saying, "The capacity of these militants to launch fresh attacks has been re-vitalized. They are now in position to carry out further strikes."

Both officials, citing the sensitive nature of the information, refused to divulge details of how they concluded that militants involved in the two days of attacks had rebuilt their capacity.

"If you would have asked me three months ago I would have said the stockpiles of the militants were probably depleted," said the second official. "But now I have to admit they have rebuilt a good part of their arsenal."

Any evidence of Taliban militants with increased ability to carry out bomb and suicide attacks would be of concern to President Barack Obama's administration as it seeks to take control of Afghanistan through a troop surge this year.

In Pakistan the military led by General Ashfaq Kiyani would also have cause for concern over the latest assessments, a year after the Pakistan military began attacking suspected sites of Taliban militants in the region along the Afghan border. In the past six months, U.S. and Pakistani militaries have drawn themselves closer to each other as they deepen their alliance to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

The U.S. acknowledges Pakistan as the most vital country among the states surrounding landlocked Afghanistan. Pakistan's border along Afghanistan is roughly equivalent to the border of all of Afghanistan's other neighbors among the former Soviet central Asian countries and Iran.

A Western ambassador based in Islamabad who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity said in spite of Pakistan's growing commitment against the Taliban, "It is clearly evident to anyone in Pakistan you just can't totally seal this long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It remains a porous border." He said the issue is mainly that the Taliban continue to get supplies "most likely from Afghanistan. If the supplies are still coming through then that probably means our [western] alliance in Afghanistan needs to work harder to plug all the loopholes."

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by tsigili April 19, 2010 10:18 AM EDT: Pakistan.....it is YOUR country that is at risk, and it will have to be YOUR responsibility to deal with it.

Use your military, and eliminate the scourge, once and for all, from your borders.; Reply to this comment


by Dgunner April 19, 2010 10:00 AM EDT: toolmangler,i BELIEVE YOUR ARE PARTLY CORRECT. i THINK THE ABSOLUTE END WILL BE OF A CHEMICAL ATTACK IN PORPORTION TO WHITE WASHING THE ENTIRE REGION IN BIOCHEMICAL SOLUTION AND GENOCIDE OF BIBLICAL PORPORTION.I THINK WE ARE JUST WAITNG ON THE OTHER UN MEMBERS TO GET CAUGHT NAPPING AND THEN PEOPLE WILL BEGIN TO DROP DEAD LIKE FLIES IN MOLLASSES.THIS WILL NOT BE FUNNY NOR WILL IT BE THE NED OF THE WARS IN THE MIDDLE EAST BUT A NEW BEGINING IN THE WAY THE US NEGOTIATES WHICH WILL BE NO NEGOTIATIONS.NO ONE WILL TRUST ANYONE WHO PACKS A KORAN.THE KORAN IS NOT THE WORD OF GOD NOR IS IT A PLAY BY PLAY MANUAL FOR WAR. THE KORAN IS PROPAGANDA TOOL USED TO STOCKHOLM A PERSON INTO KILLING THEMSELVES.WE ALL KNOW WHAT THE TRUE GOD HAS SAID ABOUT SUICIDE.HELL WILL BE FULL OF GOOD INTENTIONS JUST AS WASHINGTON IS FULL OF FOOLS AND IDIOTS PLACED ON THIER POTIUM BY EVEN MORE IDIOTIC AND FOOLISH PEOPLE WHO OUT OF IGNORANCE AND GREED ALLOW THEMSELVES TO LED TO THIER DEATH LIKE SHEEP.; Reply to this comment


by ToolMangler1 April 18, 2010 6:38 PM EDT: The Taliban will not quit until they tick off a nuclear nation enough for it to get serious about wiping them out. They all believe that 'Allah' will not let that happen, What a 'shock' they are going to receive.; Reply to this comment