Afghan Army Boss: Pakistan Could End War

The Taliban is being controlled by Pakistan and Islamabad could bring fighting in Afghanistan to a halt "in weeks" if it gave the order, the chief of the Afghan National Army tells the BBC. The Taliban's "leadership is in Pakistan," Sher Mohammad Karimi says, accusing Afghanistan's neighbor of "unleashing" the militants on the country. A NATO report earlier this year found that Pakistan was well aware that Taliban leaders had found refuge within its borders.

Despite its public denunciations of drone strikes, Pakistan is complicit in the program and gives the US military lists of targets, Karimi claims. "The drones are used against those Taliban who are Pakistani Taliban," he says. "The drones are never used against Haqqani or Afghan Taliban." Pakistan says at least 17 people were killed in a US drone strike in the North Waziristan region today, the biggest such strike this year, Reuters reports. (More Taliban stories.)