A top American military commander told lawmakers on Tuesday that Pakistan continued to be a threat to the war against terrorism. “As you know, the nature of the Taliban in those safe havens differs, varies according to where they are geographically. I believe that, in the south, the southern Taliban elements out of the Quetta Shura — their momentum has been successfully thwarted,” General John Allen, commander of the US and NATO forces, told lawmakers at a congressional hearing. If the issue of safe haven across the border was not resolved, he continued, more and more Afghan security forces would have to be deployed on Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
“Chances are very good that, if the issue isn’t resolved in our favor one way or the other, we’ll probably have to have a larger presence of the ANSF than we had anticipated which may require us to thin the ANSF in other places in Afghanistan.