Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday asked the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to prevent cross-border Taliban attacks from Afghan soil on Pakistani checkposts.
A US embassy statement reported that NATO-ISAF Afghanistan Commander General John R. Allen visited Pakistan to meet with General Kayani. They discussed topics of mutual interest and ways to improve regional security. The statement did not discuss the recent cross-border raids in Pakistan’s frontier regions.
However, a Pakistani security official privy to the talks said General Kayani spoke at length about Pakistan’s concerns over recent cross-border Taliban attacks on Pakistani checkposts in Chitral and other border regions. The official said General Allen was told the Pakistani Taliban fled to Afghanistan after military operations in Pakistan and were now operating from Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces but neither NATO forces nor the Afghan Army were trying to stop the attacks.
Around 300 Taliban militants attacked seven Pakistani checkposts in Chitral a few days ago and killed and injured Pakistani border troops and kidnapped a group of Pakistani boys from Bajaur tribal region after which the Foreign Office summoned the Afghan envoy to lodge a formal protest.An ISPR statement said General Allen’s trip to Pakistan also included a visit to 11th Corps Headquarters in Peshawar for an operational update and discussions about security near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. This was General Allen’s first visit to Pakistan as NATO ISAF Commander Afghanistan.
Stop cross-border Taliban attacks, Kayani tells ISAF
