Pakistan has told Washington that US forces must seal the Afghan border in the event of any offensive against the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, an official said Saturday.
The Haqqanis, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan and whose leaders are understood to be based in the Pakistani tribal district, is one of the thorniest issues between Islamabad and Washington. “The Americans have been repeatedly told that they will have to seal off the border on the Afghan side whenever an operation is launched in North Waziristan,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.
Without protecting the porous, mountainous border, militants would simply escape into Afghanistan, where Pakistan has no writ, the official explained. He claimed that Americans have “never been encouraging on this point” and accused them of failing to seal the border when operations were planned twice before in North Waziristan. On August 3, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pakistani and US officials were considering joint counter-terrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Haqqanis and Taliban fighters who attack Pakistan. The paper said the campaigns would mark an upturn in cooperation after more than a year of rancorous relations and stamp out major threats facing each country. Pakistani officials later denied any agreement with the United States for a joint operation in North Waziristan, and said “routine” actions on each side of the border “should not be mistaken for ‘joint operations’”.
Washington has long demanded that Pakistan take action against the Haqqanis, whom the United States accused of attacking the US embassy in Kabul last September and acting like the “veritable arm” of Pakistani intelligence.
Pakistan has in turn demanded that Afghan and US forces to do more to stop Pakistani Taliban crossing the Afghan border to relaunch attacks on its forces. The senior official told AFP that Pakistan had been able to “speak their heart and mind” on the issue during last week’s visit to Washington by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief. Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, in the first such visit for a year, and CIA director David Petraeus discussed some of the most intractable issues on both sides that have fractured the anti-terror alliance.
“The Americans were clearly told that Pakistan will not allow American boots on its soil for any operation and whenever an offensive is launched, it will be done by us,” the official told AFP. “We told the Americans that it is simply not possible for Pakistan to launch a fresh offensive in North Waziristan at the moment because it will have a very negative impact,” he added.
Islam gave the CIA in Washington “two loud and clear messages,” said the official — no American boots on Pakistani soil and that US drone strikes on Islamist militants, which Islamabad brands a violation of its sovereignty, must stop.
"No American boots on Pakistani soil," is one message understood. Why? Because, assumingly the result will be destructive and the head count will be bloody.
On the other point of drone attacks, the USA could not care at all. They are just continuing it to rankle Pakistanis and perfecting their killing machine. The Al Qaeda militants are wise to the idea of missile strikes and have either moved out or been killed off. The Taliban and innocent families are suffering the losses of loved ones.
In twelve years, the USA controls only small pockets of Afghanistan, but through formidable firepower. They have shown their gutless attitude in a direct firefight with the Taliban and rely on air support to make an escape. Therefore, expecting them to block and cudgel the escaping militants is expecting to see a "koowein ka maindak."
The USA will continue to pressurize Pakistan till such time, as we do not make the essential effort of standing on our feet and telling them to ‘fly over’. If they continue with the internal strife in Pakistan, then let our 'thumb sucking' politicians match their guile for once with the USA and the terrorists.
In the meantime, what can be done is take away some 5,000 policemen from the VVIP duty and give them hi-tech training in anti-terrorism warfare, remembering not to make another Lyari fiasco. Salams to Pakistan.
Comments are closed.