Pakistani military's offensive against Taliban in the Swat Valley and adjoining areas is having a definite impact on militant activities inside Afghanistan, a US commander based in the country has said.
"I think, there's a definite impact," Colonel John Spiszer, US Commander of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry, told Pentagon reporters today in a teleconference from Afghanistan.
As a result of the Pakistan's military offensive, Col Spiszer said the activity of the Taliban, in the adjoining border region, has declined. There are also reports of the Taliban finding it difficult to finance the insurgency and buy new weapons.
"What I think is happening is, weapons are drying up. Money is drying up. And there are only so many resources to go around, up in the FATA, to travel over into Afghanistan. If they are having to use them to fight, against the Pakistan military and the Frontier Corps, they certainly aren't of use here," Col Spiszer said.
"We have pretty good evidence that the weapons prices, for instance, have almost doubled. Weapons and ammunition has almost doubled since last summer. So that's a great sign, because there's only so much that they can do, if they can't pay their fighters, if they can't buy weapons," Col Spiszer said. "That's one of the big things that's happened in the Korengal Valley (in Afghanistan), is they (Taliban) have got no money. It's hard for them to come across, and it's because of some pretty successful operations that the 1-26 Infantry Blue Spaders have done in the central Kunar," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"We have pretty good evidence that the weapons prices, for instance, have almost doubled. Weapons and ammunition has almost doubled since last summer. So that's a great sign, because there's only so much that they can do, if they can't pay their fighters, if they can't buy weapons," Col Spiszer said. "That's one of the big things that's happened in the Korengal Valley (in Afghanistan), is they (Taliban) have got no money. It's hard for them to come across, and it's because of some pretty successful operations that the 1-26 Infantry Blue Spaders have done in the central Kunar," he said.
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