US Afghan envoy angers Pakistan
Khalilzad says if Pakistan doesn't wipe out 'terrorist' havens, the US 'will have to do it.'
The US envoy to Afghanistan has
angered Pakistan by warning the country that it must eliminate "terrorist sanctuaries" near their common border or US forces will have to step in. In a speech Monday at a private Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Zalmay Khalilzad said that if Islamabad doesn't solve the problem then "we [the US] will have to do it ourselves."
Pakistan says more than 60 suspects were killed and more than 160 captured in the large offensive it launched last month against suspected Islamic militants, and tribesmen aiding them, in the border region. Mr. Khalilzad says although the offensive was "positive and hopeful," the Taliban
continues to be able "to base, train and operate from Pakistan."
Pakistan has responded angrily to these statements. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said Mr. Khalilzad's comments were "
unwarranted and uncalled for."
"Ambassador Khalilzad is perhaps not aware of the position of his own government," Mr. Jilani said. "The US administration at the highest level has greatly appreciated Pakistan's effort in eliminating and rooting out the terrorist infrastructure and the al-Qaida elements from Pakistan. The other thing is that Pakistan is quite capable of taking firm action against all undesirable elements and does not require any outside assistance," he added.
Information Minister Sheikh Ahmed Rashid said the Pakistani army was fully capable of "confronting terrorists" and that US troops were not needed on Pakistani soil.
We do not need anybody in our territories - neither can permission be given to anyone. ... These kind of irresponsible statements can create political problems for us. The presence of US troops in Pakistan is an explosive domestic issue and "likely to be deeply unpopular among most of the public," according to the
BBC.
Khalilzad's latest comments come within weeks of his March 21 statement that
Taliban leaders still plot attacks on Afghan and US targets from safe havens in Pakistan. "We know several key Taliban figures are there and there is some sense that some of the remaining Al Qaeda leaders are in the border area on the other side," Khalilzad said.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a news conference on March 22 that Khalilzad "is clearly out of his depth" and "
should desist from making such statements that can only cause misunderstandings." Pakistan is a key supporter of the US-led war on terror.
The Dawn, a Pakistani daily, reports that Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has given 15 days to tribesmen of the North and South Waziristan regions (near the border of Afghanistan) to "
present to the government a formula for peacefully resolving the issue of foreign militants in their areas." The deadline expires on April 20.
The Dawn also reports that Pakistani
troops are closing in on a remote corner of the country "where some people believe Osama bin Laden could be hiding."
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