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In a horrific attack Pakistani Taliban militants stormed a school on Tuesday, killing 132 children and other staff members. Almost all the children who were killed were under the age of sixteen, and the attack also critically injured 121children.

In a statement President Obama condemned the “heinous attack,” which he said shows the militants’ “depravity.”

The president continued to express his utter debauchery of these attacks, “We stand with the people of Pakistan, and reiterate the commitment of the United States to support the government of Pakistan to combat terrorism and extremism and to promote peace and stability in the region.”

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Peshawar the site of the attack to oversee military operation, and commented that Pakistan is at war with terrorism.

Pakistan was quick to retaliate as the military conducted 10 airstrikes on Tuesday in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with Peshawar being the capital based on actionable intelligence.

The LA Times reported eight to 10 gunmen wearing the uniforms of security forces entered the Army Public School around 11 a.m. and broke into an auditorium where ninth- and 10th-grade students were listening to a lecture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Executive Pervez Khattak told reporters outside Lady Reading Hospital, where many of the injured were being treated.

The Times continued to report that a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was retaliation for the Pakistani military’s months-long offensive in northeastern Pakistan’s tribal areas, an action that officials say has killed hundreds of militants.

The attack on the school targeted the vast majority of the over 700 students who are the children of army personnel with many of their wives serving as teachers.

A Taliban spokesman, Muhammad Khorsani, told Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper: “We will target every institution linked to the army unless they stop operations and the extrajudicial killing of our detainees.”

In its reporting the Times reported on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, is a loose federation of militant groups seeking to overthrow Pakistan’s civilian government and establish Islamic law in the country. The TTP, which is ideologically allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan but operationally a separate organization, has carried out brazen attacks against civilians before, but this was by far the biggest and deadliest operation it has ever launched against children.

The Pakistani Taliban have been waging a violent campaign against the education of girls as they view it as un-Islamic, and have attacked hundreds of school with the most famous attack being the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, who just recently awarded the Nobel Peace prize.

This again places the president in a precarious situation, on Monday the president speaking to U.S. forces stated, now, this month, in just two weeks, the transition that we’re making in Afghanistan will be complete. Afghans will take full responsibility for their security. This month, after more than 13 years, our combat mission in Afghanistan will be over. This month, America’s war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end.

The unanswered question, will Afghanistan turnout the same way Iraq after the removal of U.S. combat forces?

Currently, the U.S. will be leaving a residual force but the last few weeks it looks like it will be larger than most had anticipated, but the real question what is U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and what is the strategy for Pakistan?

This needs to be addressed or the same situation will be replicated in Afghanistan as happened in Iraq.