| Comes as a surprise, huh? |
Taliban-led militants are still launching operations against American and other forces from safe havens in Pakistan, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Tuesday. Khalilzad said a Pakistani crackdown this month which killed 100 foreign militants and allied tribesmen in South Waziristan border region "really has disrupted" al-Qaeda and Taliban militants there. But he said there were other areas of Pakistan from which Taliban crossed into Afghanistan. "In that regard, there hasn’t been any change. They’ve dealt with part of the problem, but the problem is obviously larger than that," Khalilzad said. Khalilzad said some Taliban elements were trained and equipped outside the country, and retreated there between attacks - another apparent allusion to Pakistan. But he insisted the vote (Afghan elections) should go ahead on time to prove that it was possible to build a peaceful, democratic state with equal gender rights in the region. "This is a very, very important struggle," Khalilzad said. "It’s a real test of will, it’s a test of endurance, it’s a test of commitment."
Khalilzad declined to comment on whether an extra 3,000 troops pledged by Nato leaders on Monday at a summit in Turkey would be enough to safeguard the vote. He said a plan to disarm militias to prevent warlords and drug barons from intimidating voters and candidates needed to be drastically scaled back. Instead of the official 100,000 irregular fighters in the country, the number of men under arms was probably lower than 40,000, the ambassador said. |