Security

Pakistan severs 'terrorist transit route' on Afghan border

By Muhammad Ahil

Pakistani troops fight to secure rugged Rajgal Valley in late July. The army August 22 announced that it had secured the valley. [Courtesy of ISPR]

Pakistani troops fight to secure rugged Rajgal Valley in late July. The army August 22 announced that it had secured the valley. [Courtesy of ISPR]

ISLAMABAD -- A recent operation completed by the Pakistani army represents a key part in halting cross-border movements by militants, say observers.

The operation cleared more than 250 sq. km of rugged terrain in the Rajgal Valley along the Pakistani-Afghan border. The valley, situated in Khyber Agency, had served as a transit centre of sorts for various militant groups and as a key route for cross-border attacks.

Terror groups like the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) and the Taliban have been using the Rajgal Valley and the neighbouring Afghan province of Nangarhar as launching pads for attacks on both Pakistan and Afghanistan, say security analysts.

Pakistani officials said 52 militants had been killed and 32 injured in the more than a month and a half long offensive that ended August 22.

Need for permanent control

Cleaning up the Rajgal Valley represents a major success in the campaign to stop the spread of ISIS, said Aqeel Yousafzai, a Peshawar-based journalist and Pashtu-language anchor attached with Khyber TV.

"It's a big success," agreed Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies. "ISIS was knocking on the door. It was a timely strike that cleared out the strategic valley."

"It is important to keep troops there and keep the area under control," Rana told Pakistan Forward.

Permanently controlling the strategic border crossing embodied by the Rajgal Valley is vital for long-term success in security, he added.

The valley was one of the main transit points for militants in Afghanistan who were crossing into Khyber Agency and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said Akhtar Ameen, a research scholar at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Peshawar.

Clearing out the Rajgal Valley and all other border transit points of terrorists and restricting those terrorists' movements are key to winning the war against terrorism and to restoring peace along the border, he added.

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