Taliban Leader Killed

The Pakistani army announced on December 29 that it had killed a Taliban commander, Abu Zar, who it described as a 'wanted terrorist commander with extensive explosives expertise'. The killing occurred in the Swat Valley, an area in which, along with South Waziristan, the Pakistani army launched sizeable offensives against the Taliban insurgency in 2009. Despite military gains being made in both of these regions, we remain extremely concerned by Pakistan's security situation. Indeed, the terrorist blast that killed 43 in Karachi on December highlights the continued ability of the Pakistani Taliban's to strike at the country's commercial heart.

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