Military Operation in Pakistan Will Last Until End of Year

Islamabad, Feb 17 (Prensa Latina) The military operation against the Taliban in Pakistan''s northwest will be completed towards the end of the year and will be followed by a reconstruction program in those territories bordering Afghanistan, announced an official source. Quoted by the newspaper Dawn, the Minister of State for Border Regions, Abdul Qadir Baloch, said the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) will no longer be a stronghold of the insurgency. The era of terrorism will end in these areas by the end of 2015, he assured. Since June last year the Pakistani army is waging a massive offensive against rebels in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in response to the attack a few days ago against the international airport in the southern city of Karachi, which left 39 dead. The operation was intensified after mid-December the Taliban stormed a military academy in Peshawar (northwest) and murdered 149 people, mostly children and adolescents, the worst attack on a civilian facility in the history of the country. Baloch said the government will implement a comprehensive plan for development in the FATA, where the fighting has caused huge material losses and displacement of about one million people. The program is so large, he added, we call it a mini-Marshall Plan (referring to the one triggered by the United States after World War II with the dual purpose of rebuilding the European countries and contain the spread of communism). Washington will make a similar effort in Pakistan itself, since the chief US diplomat, John Kerry, in a recent visit to Islamabad, pledged 250 million dollars in aid to those displaced by the war and the reconstruction of the FATA, provided the war against the Taliban continues