As Taliban activities rise to a disturbing level in Afghanistan, the relations between two close allies in the war on terror — the US and Pakistan — seem to be souring.
Hours after Wednesday’s statement by the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, that Washington was planning military operations to eliminate militant sanctuaries in Pakistan, Pakistan’s army chief vowed to defend sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country “at all cost.”
The top US military official told Congress’ Armed Services Committee that the armed forces were not winning the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and a “new, comprehensive strategy” involving Pakistan’s tribal belt from where the rebels launch cross-border attacks on coalition forces was needed.
Apparently the revised policy has already been put to work.
A report in the New York Times yesterday said US President George W. Bush had in July secretly approved orders for ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior consent of Islamabad.
“The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable,” a senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper. “We have to be more assertive. Orders have been issued.”
This allowed US special forces, backed by helicopter gunships, to raid a border village in the tribal district of South Waziristan, killing more than 20 people, mostly civilians, Pakistani officials said.
It evoked anger in Pakistan where demands are mounting to end the cooperation with the US against terrorism.
“Such reckless actions only help the militants and further fuel the militancy in the area,” Pakistani military chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said. “No external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan.”
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman would not comment directly on Kayani’s remarks. But he said the US military was working closely with the Pakistanis in regard to the border region.
“We have a shared common interest with respect to terrorism and terrorist activities,” Whitman said. “Pakistan recognizes the challenges that they have, and the United States is committed to helping allies counter terrorism.”
But Kayani said such operations were covered by no agreement between Pakistan and US-led forces in Afghanistan and risked stoking militancy in a region which Washington regards as an intolerably safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
“Falling for short-term gains while ignoring our long-term interest is not the right way forward,” Kayani said in a statement released through the military’s media wing.
The Pakistani government already hauled in the US ambassador to Islamabad to lodge a stiff protest over a highly unusual raid by helicopter-borne grounds troops that residents said killed about 15 people.
US officials have acknowledged that US troops carried out the operation, but have provided no details. The objective and results of the mission remain unclear.
Along with a barrage of suspected US missile strikes into Pakistan’s border zone, the raid indicates that Washington is getting more aggressive against militant targets beyond Afghanistan’s frontier, despite the political fallout in Pakistan, a key US ally.
A US missile strike on Monday in the North Waziristan tribal region destroyed a seminary and houses associated with a veteran Taliban commander and killed 20 people, including some women and children as well as four foreign militants, officials said.
The tribal belt is considered a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.
Three Pakistani intelligence officials identified the foreign militants as Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of their jobs’ sensitivity.
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