A military offensive in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region has blown apart the network of the Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants, as the country has seen a substantial decrease in attacks and fatalities.
Taliban's continued deadly attacks forced the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to go after the Taliban insurgents in North Waziristan, their biggest sanctuary, in June after they ended a temporary cease-fire.
They had declared a 40-day cease-fire in March, as the government had given a last chance for peace and had started talks with the Taliban.
Sharif had received widespread support among the major political parties and the parliament for the military operation that was needed to make it a success.
The general public also threw their weight behind the decision, because the Taliban's violent extremism had brought large-scale killings and huge economic losses.
Top military leaders are satisfied with the outcome of the operation over the past three months, as security forces have cleared most of the areas in major towns.
Military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa says about 1,000 militants have so far been killed and dozens of their training centers and bomb-making factories destroyed. Most of the main towns including Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan, and Mir Ali, the militants' stronghold, have been cleared and the forces have consolidated positions.
Some Taliban are thought to have either fled to neighboring Afghanistan or moved to nearby tribal regions.
The main achievement of the operation is a substantial decrease in suicide attacks and bomb blasts in the country since the operation had been launched three months ago. The Taliban threat has subsided but not completely ended.
They have carried out several attacks on the country's three airports in this period to take revenge of the military operation. However, the sense of fear among the public that had gripped Pakistan due to the Taliban attacks has decreased.
The much anticipated operation has now denied what were previously described as "safe havens" in North Waziristan to the militants.
Many Taliban have either been killed or fled the region. The Pakistani army chief, General Raheel Sharif, who twice visited North Waziristan, has vowed not to allow the militants to return to the region.
The operation also led to cracks within the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the banned group is now divided into at least four segments. The internal rift has weakened the outfit, and it is not in a position to pose a serious challenge to the security forces.
The TTP leaders have been infighting in recent weeks. A senior Taliban leader, who was heading the group in Punjab, the country's biggest province, announced on Saturday that he has ceased militancy and will now preach a "peaceful Islam."
Political watchers described the dramatic announcement by Asmatullah Muaweya as a result of the operation.
The Muaweya group had been blamed for several high-profile attacks in the country.
The Pakistani Taliban, the remnants of Al Qaeda and dozens of other foreign and militants groups had been using North Waziristan as their biggest sanctuary for training and planning attacks in the country, across the border into Afghanistan as well as in other countries.
The majority of the foreign militants had arrived in the region after the US launched military operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Several aspiring suicide bombers arrested alive in Pakistan have admitted that they had received training in North Waziristan.
Pakistan-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad, who was arrested in connection with the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt in May 2010, had disclosed that he had received training in North Waziristan.
A Jordanian national, who had attacked the CIA center in Afghanistan's Khost province in December 2009, appeared in a video along with then Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack last year.
The author is a writer with the Xinhua News Agency. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn