Thaindian News

Washington, May 7 (ANI): The foiled Times Square bombing plot may represent a turning point for the US as it confronts the threat posed by the Pakistan Taliban, a terrorist group that up until now seemed only distant.

According to the Christian Science Monitor (CSM), there is now a real concern in Washington that bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad received training from the Pakistan Taliban.

If proved, this would be “a game-changing development,” claimed Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.

CSM quoted Zarate as saying further that, “You would now have a new, potential global actor coming out of western Pakistan to complement what Al Qaeda has been doing for 15 years.”

Zarate, a former top official at the National Security Council, wonders why, if the Pakistan Taliban is in fact training individuals like Shahzad, the bombing wasn’t successful.

“I still think it’s odd that he wasn’t well trained by a group that is very good at blowing things up and killing people. The level of direction is still in question here,” Zarate said.

The would-be attack could be seen as strategically inept on the part of the Pakistan Taliban, otherwise known as Tehrik-i-Taliban, because if anything it could galvanize American opinion against militant groups.

But according to James Carafano, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, that is a short sighted reading.

He said to the Taliban, even the failed attack is a tactical success because it prompted a large reaction in the American media and by the government. (ANI)