United States President Barack Obama would approve a new incursion into Pakistan if the US found another leading militant there, he said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast on Sunday. Asked if Obama would carry out a similar operation to the one that killed Osama bin Laden if the US discovered another “high-value target” in Pakistan or another country, such as a senior al Qaeda member or Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, he said he would “take the shot”, Reuters reported.
“We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan, but we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies’ people, we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action,” Obama told the BBC. “I had made no secret. I had said this when I was running for the presidency, that if I had a clear shot at bin Laden, that we’d take it,” he added. Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in response to Obama’s remarks: “We need to move away from unilateral actions and should focus on cooperation in countering terrorism.” He declined to comment further.
Obama’s comments echoed those of US Senator John Kerry, who said earlier this month that Washington would consider all its options. Commenting on Obama’s statement, Spokeswoman for Pakistan’s Foreign Office Tehmina Janjua said Pakistan and the US had recently agreed that in future, joint operation would be conducted by the forces of both countries if it was considered necessary, Online news agency reported.