The American troops in Afghanistan is much safer after the killing of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud, a top US lawmaker has said.
‘It was a big deal,’ Congressman Mike Rogers, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said when asked about the death of Mehsud, against whom the FBI had announced a reward of $5 million.
‘I feel a little safe - a little better for our troops today than I did before this event happened,’ Rogers said in response to a question, indicating that the operation was a result of the joint intelligence gathering by both the US and Pakistan.
‘I’ll tell you why it happened. And by the way, all of those intelligence agencies... Contributed to leading up to what is a very difficult, long-term collection of all the sources of intelligence to make sure you can find an individual and do something about it,’ Rogers said.
He said that Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a bad guy and in 2007, he brought together all of the Pakistan Taliban. ‘And they wanted to focus on, at that time, the Pakistani military. They have also made threats to the United States, especially Hakimullah Mehsud, who said, hey, listen, we’re going to conduct operations in the United States,’ he said. ‘There is a relationship between the gentleman that showed up in Times Square (in New York) and the individual that was taken off the battlefield not a long time ago. This is the guy that’s trying to create the problems both for Pakistan - he relates with Afghanistan Taliban. These are the folks that closed 500 schools, most of them girls’ schools in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan,’ he said.
Rogers said that Mehsud is part of the Haqqani network.
‘It was a big deal,’ Congressman Mike Rogers, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said when asked about the death of Mehsud, against whom the FBI had announced a reward of $5 million.
‘I feel a little safe - a little better for our troops today than I did before this event happened,’ Rogers said in response to a question, indicating that the operation was a result of the joint intelligence gathering by both the US and Pakistan.
‘I’ll tell you why it happened. And by the way, all of those intelligence agencies... Contributed to leading up to what is a very difficult, long-term collection of all the sources of intelligence to make sure you can find an individual and do something about it,’ Rogers said.
He said that Mehsud, the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a bad guy and in 2007, he brought together all of the Pakistan Taliban. ‘And they wanted to focus on, at that time, the Pakistani military. They have also made threats to the United States, especially Hakimullah Mehsud, who said, hey, listen, we’re going to conduct operations in the United States,’ he said. ‘There is a relationship between the gentleman that showed up in Times Square (in New York) and the individual that was taken off the battlefield not a long time ago. This is the guy that’s trying to create the problems both for Pakistan - he relates with Afghanistan Taliban. These are the folks that closed 500 schools, most of them girls’ schools in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan,’ he said.
Rogers said that Mehsud is part of the Haqqani network.