Moscow-Chechnya-Kabul-Islamabad-Karachi link

PREM MAHADEVAN of the Center for Security Studies in Zurich states that the Moscow bombings were on one level motivated by local considerations such as revenge for assassination of Chechen terrorists, while also being linked on another level to the shifts in the Afghanistan in the backdrop of Moscow agreeing to facilitate the resupply of NATO forces through the Northern Distribution network. In a commentary for ISN Security Watch, "Fallout of a New Great Game?", he posits that the new resupply route would reduce NATO dependence on Pakistani supply routes and hence significantly lower transit fees for Islamabad, which could explain the sudden drop in Taliban attacks on the convoys and also cautions Moscow to brace itself for more terrorist attacks in the wake of intensification of the war in Afghanistan.

Festering sore

MUSTAFA QADRI states that the strong public support in Pakistan currently for its war against the Taliban insurgency within its territory arose due to a host of factors including a perception that Pakistan was fighting a war for its  existence, with the armed forces as brave guarantors of national security against foreign actors. In a briefing paper for the Pakistan Security Research Unit,"Public perceptions of Pakistan’s war against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan", he cautions that this prevented the Pakistani society from confronting the very real, and serious infiltration of militant, political Islam into mainstream society and effectively absolved the state and religious leaders from their culpability in creating the very environment that enabled the TTP to form and so rapidly expand throughout the tribal areas.

Predator - A Blessing in disguise in Waziristan

FARHAT TAJ of the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Research of the University of Oslo challenges Pakistani and US media reports about the civilian casualties in the drone attacks in Waziristan claiming that those estimates were fabricated by the pro-Taliban and pro Al-Qaeda elements in Pakistan as part of their propaganda against the US. In an op-ed in Pakistan's The Daily Times, "Drone attacks: challenging some fabrications" she claims that the people of Waziristan had suffered under occupation by the Taliban and the al Qaeda and hence welcomed the drone attacks as a means of getting rid of their oppressors through the precision strikes.

PakAf War

Frederick W. Kagan, Director at the American Enterprise Institute declares that the war against the network of Islamists in South Asia was now a two-front war wherein terrorist groups had to be fought in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In an article for The Weekly Standard, "The Two-Front War", he praises Pakistan for showing surprising determination and competence in its struggle against the Pakistani Islamists and calls upon the US to show similar determination in its struggle against the Afghan Taliban.

Al-Qaeda vs Afghan Taliban

Vahid Brown, fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Academy, states that there has been an uproar in the online jihadi community due to mixed messages emanating from the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and the al-Qaeda with the Taliban emphasizing the nationalist character of their movement and the al-Qaeda rejecting the nationalist version and reiterating its model of transnational jihad. In a commentary in Foreign Policy, "Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban: “Diametrically Opposed”?", he posits that the recent shift in the Quetta Shura's strategic communications was not to al-Qaeda's liking, and it raised serious concerns among the broader Salafi jihadi movement about the religio-political legitimacy of the Afghan Taliban's leadership, calling into question the notion of an al-Qaeda-Taliban merger.