Kabul attack pits US against Pakistan

The already strained Pakistan-US relations received yet another rude shock on Thursday from US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, who warned that his country would use all resources to target militants and terrorists using Pakistani soil to attack Americans and their installations in Afghanistan, a statement Islamabad swiftly termed not in keeping with joint counter-terrorism efforts.
“Time and again, we’ve urged the Pakistanis to exercise their influence over these kinds of attacks from the Haqqanis. And, we have made very little progress in that area,” Panetta told reporters flying with him to San Francisco on Wednesday. He made the remarks a day after a 19-hour Taliban assault in Kabul, expressing frustration that the Pakistani government had failed to crack down on the Haqqani network. Though Panetta declined to answer questions about what steps the United States might take to defend its forces, he said he was concerned about the Haqqanis’ ability to attack American troops and then escape back into safe havens in Pakistan.
“… They escape back into what is a safe haven in Pakistan. And that’s unacceptable. So the message they need to know is that we’re going to do everything we can to defend our forces,” he said. “I’m not going to talk about how we’re going to respond. I’ll just let you know that we’re not going to allow these kinds of attacks to go on,” he added. His comments clearly suggested that the US might attack the Haqqani network in reaction to the assault on the US embassy compound in Kabul.

Responding to Panetta’s statement, Foreign Office Spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told reporters at the weekly press briefing that the US defence secretary’s statement was not in the interest of the coalition fighting the war against terrorism. “These remarks are not in line with the cooperation that exists between the two countries,” Tehmina said. Other Pakistani officials also responded to Panetta’s statement, saying that it was the responsibility of US-led forces to crack down on militants when they enter Afghanistan. “We are using all our resources to fight terrorism. As far as these issues like Haqqani network launching attacks from Pakistani territory is concerned, has any proof ever been given?” a senior Pakistani military official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. “If the militants are doing something inside Afghanistan, then it is the responsibility of the Afghan and Western forces to hold them on the borders… they let everyone go scot-free on their side (of the border) and then they say Pakistan is not doing enough,” he added. “They (Americans) should not dump their failures on this side of the border always, look at their resources, intelligence and surveillance capabilities,” another senior Pakistani military official told Reuters.
The Foreign Office spokeswoman said the war against terrorism required cooperation between all the countries concerned and Pakistan’s cooperation in this regard had been persistent.
“We have raised the issue of ‘safe havens’ and ‘sanctuaries’ on the other side of the border from where militants have launched attacks against our border posts and villages, killing many innocent civilians and destroying schools and homes. There is a need to clearly address the issue in a cooperative mode and work for the de-escalation in violence, as violence is no solution to any problem. We are prepared to continue cooperation in countering terrorism,” she said.
KAYANI-MULLEN MEETING: Meanwhile, AFP reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and General Ashfaq Kayani are to meet on the margins of a NATO conference beginning in Spain on Friday.