Outgoing ISAF commander calls on General Sharif

#GNN - #RAWALPINDI: General Joseph Dunford, outgoing Commander International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, at General Headquarters on Monday.

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), during the meeting, matters of mutual interest came under discussion including post election situation in Afghanistan and coordination along Pak-Afghan Border.

The COAS particularly thanked the outgoing ISAF Commander for his efforts towards stability in Afghanistan.

Army chiefs says trying to complete Operation Zarb-e-Azb soon

#GNN - #ISLAMABAD: Chief of the #Army Staff General Raheel Shari has said that the army will try to complete the military operation in North Waziristan soon.

In his media interaction after Independence Day ceremony, the army chief said that the event was good sign for national solidarity.

The army launched long-awaited full scale military operation in Norh Waziristan in June this year against local and foreign militants.

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PM, Army chief discuss Operation Zarb-e-Azb

(GNN) - ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif here on Wednesday.

During the meeting the prime minister and COAS discussed the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan Agency.

Army chief informed the prime minister that Operation Zarb-e-Azb was proceeding according to plan.

The prime minister said a comprehensive plan had been prepared for the IDPs who will be resettled after the operation concludes. Prime Minister Sharif also expressed satisfaction in the coordination between the Pakistan Army and other institutions during the operation.

Pakistan’s military launched the operation in North Waziristan Agency to root out terrorism from the tribal region. The operation has led to over half a million people fleeing from the agency and taking shelter at camps.

In earlier statements Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and COAS Raheel Shairf have expressed that the operation will continue till the last terrorist is eliminated.

Internal, external challenges: Civil-military huddle reviews security situation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has extended its full support to Afghan authorities for the second phase of presidential polls but urged them to take urgent steps against repeated cross-border firing incidents by their security forces.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chairing a high level meeting to review the national and regional security situation at Prime Minister House on May 20, 2014. PHOTO: PID

The issue was one of the key agenda items during a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by top civil and military leadership, including Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

According to an official statement issued by the Prime Minister House, the army chief briefed the PM on his recent visit to Kabul and his discussions on border coordination and security for the second phase of the Afghan presidential elections.

An official, privy to the development, said the meeting discussed Afghanistan in the post-election and post-US drawdown scenario. The army chief briefed the meeting about his visit wherein he had asked the Afghan authorities to take steps against cross-border firing incidents, he added.

He said Gen Raheel took up the issue during his talks with his Afghan counterpart Sher Muhammad Karimi and International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) Commander General Joseph Dunford in Kabul on Monday.

Officials said the army chief told the meeting that he shared his concerns with Afghan authorities regarding the alleged sanctuaries of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan and said that Islamabad suspected that the TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah was being given refuge by Afghan security agencies.

The issue was discussed in the backdrop of ongoing peace talks with the TTP which had entered the second phase when the infighting within the Taliban ranks and government’s cautious approach towards their demand for release of non-combatants put the process on the backburner.

Though Tuesday’s meeting discussed the security situation in regional and national context, the official statement did not have a mention of talks with the Taliban.

On the other hand, officials did not say as to whether the issue of talks with the Taliban was taken up or not irrespective of the fact that the interior minister had recently announced that the government was going to resurrect the talk’s process.

The meeting, according to the statement, discussed national and regional security situation. Additionally, the law and order situation in Balochistan and Karachi was also reviewed.

The interior minister briefed the premier on the law and order situation in Karachi in particular and it was decided the targeted operations against miscreants would continue in the metropolis.

The meeting was also attended by Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen Ashfaq Nadeem and DG Military Operations Maj Gen Amir Riaz.

(By Qamar Zaman) Published in GNN & Tribune, May 21st, 2014.