Elimination of Taliban leaders to benefit Afghanistan and Pakistan

Afghan newspapers have praised mounting pressure on Taliban militants and targeting their leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan as beneficial for peace in both the neighboring nations. In the latest deadly attacks against Taliban leadership, Nasirudin Haqqani, a senior leader of Haqqani network, the military wing of Afghan Taliban, was gunned down by unknown armed men in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday evening. Earlier this month,the leader of Pakistani Taliban militants, Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone attack, leaving the armed outfit in doldrums. "Continued attacks on Taliban militants and killing their senior leaders virtually demoralize the terrorist networks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan," a newspaper The Daily Afghanistan writes in its editorial on Tuesday. Nasirudin Haqqani, the son of Mawlawi Jalaudin Haqqani who was the founder of the dreadful Haqqani network, a close ally of al- Qaida network, had served as financial in-charge and recruiter for the armed Taliban group to fight in Afghanistan. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have enormously suffered due to Taliban-linked terrorist activities over the past couple of years. "Targeting and elimination of Taliban senior leaders like Nasirudin Haqqani and Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistani Taliban, would disrupt Taliban leadership and their fighting forces on either side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders," the paper said, adding it would take time for both Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militants to find their substitutions. Another newspaper the daily Hasht-e-Subh also in its editorial hailed the killing of Nasirudin Haqqani, saying commander Nasirudin Haqqani's murder in Islamabad indicates that the leaders of Haqqani network have been enjoying the support of Pakistani's intelligence agencies. However, it noted that Pakistan has also suffered at the hands of Pakistani Taliban militants. "The Pakistani Taliban militants have targeted several places in Pakistan including airports and strategic bases of the Pakistan army over the past years," the newspaper said in its editorial. It would benefit the peace in both Pakistan and Afghanistan if the "Pakistan army crackdown on terror networks in its soil" the paper further maintained.