'Insurgents roam freely on Pak-Afghan border': think tank

[Naveed Yaseen]

LONDON (January 28 2009): A poorly-controlled border and frosty relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have allowed al Qaeda and insurgent groups to increase their activity in the region, a top thinktank said Tuesday. A lack of a cohesive strategy by Nato forces and insufficient troop numbers in Afghanistan have also let insurgent groups move into previously quiet areas of the country, the (IISS) said.

Elsewhere the thinktank noted a "surge" in terrorist attacks in India including November's massacre in Mumbai, and a growing radicalisation of a minority of Indian Muslims. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) "Military Balance 2009" annual overview of world security, the weak Afghan-Pakistan border regime is part of a broader theme, whereby links between criminal, insurgent and terrorist groups are widened.

"Weak border regimes and an increasing volume of trade moving in unchecked containers aid the activities of these groups, as do poor inter-state relationships," it said. In particular, it noted that al Qaeda elements along the disputed Afghanistan-Pakistan border "increased their activity in Pakistan whilst continuing to support the insurgency in Afghanistan." The thinktank said that in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), "security forces in general remain unable or unwilling to effectively counter the resurgent Afghan and TTP (Pakistan Taliban) militants".

"With TTP beginning to control large swathes of the tribal areas and their influence spreading in the adjoining areas of the NWFP, an increase in cross-border attacks against coalition forces and civilians in Afghanistan has taken place." IISS chief executive John Chipman voiced worries that Pakistan's army could use concerns over potential conflict with New Delhi to move troops away from counter-terrorism efforts to its border with India.

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