Taliban See Airport Attack As Job Well Done

A protracted gun battle. Buildings ablaze. More than two dozen dead. An international airport shut down. In the morbid calculus of the Taliban - a job well done.

The scenes recalled the humiliating attack on a Navy base, also in Karachi, three years ago in which 11 died.

On both occasions the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility and that the blood letting was revenge.

This time the Taliban used Twitter to boast of worse to come.

"We have yet to take revenge for the deaths of hundreds of innocent tribal women and children in Pakistani air strikes. It's just the beginning, we have taken revenge for one, we have to take revenge for hundreds," the militant group said.

A Taliban attack on Mehran Naval Base, Karachi, in 2011 left a dozen dead

'The one' referred to is Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike last November.

His predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, died the same way.

Barack Obama said recently that in counter terror operations "we must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield".

The campaign of extra-judicial killing by remote control in the ungoverned regions of Pakistan has left an estimated 500 dead, many of them civilians.

Killed by US drones: Taliban leaders Hakimullah Mehsud and Baitullah Mehsud

Mostly drawn from Pashto communities, survivors will inevitably see an obligation to attack the US or her allies in a blood feud.

This is the interpretation that the Taliban want commentators to reach.

It is also largely a statement of the obvious.

But the Taliban threats of yet more bloody retribution cannot be seen as entirely US-driven.

The movement came close to the gates of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a few years ago when it launched a ground offensive.

Karachi international airport was the scene of a bloody six-hour battle

The failure of talks with the government, which collapsed earlier this year, meant that a spectacular "listen to us" attack was almost inevitable.

But Pakistan's military has also been planning an all out offensive against the Taliban for several months.

It had been held back to give talks a chance.

The generals will see the attack on Karachi's international airport as a signal for their campaign to begin.

This may give the Taliban the 'victory' of more 'martyrs' – but both sides know neither can truly win.

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