Afghan intelligence officials say Pakistan's military has made little headway in its offensive against the Haqqani network and other militant groups along the Afghan border.
National Directorate for Security spokesman Hadib Sediqi told reporters in Kabul Wednesday that "unfortunately, so far the [Pakistani] operation has not inflicted a serious blow on any international terrorist organization."
Pakistan began a ground operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal district that borders Afghanistan in June. The tribal agency is a base for the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network that has carried out several deadly high-profile attacks against international coalition forces and Afghan officials in Afghanistan.
Sediqi said Wednesday that the Haqqani network has been "immune from these operations," and that Afghan intelligence shows that many Haqqani leaders left North Waziristan prior to the start of Pakistan's military operation.
Then-Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's military intelligence agency, the ISI.
Pakistan denied the allegation and military officials say during the current operation in North Waziristan, the army is targeting all militants.
Earlier this week, U.S. Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins addressed concerns that the Pakistani military was not targeting Haqqani militants. He told reporters in Kabul that the Haqqani network has been pushed out of North Waziristan but the "concern is whether they would come back or be allowed to operate elsewhere in Pakistan."
