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| Afghanistan | |||||
| Afghanistan Asks Pakistan to Do More in Terror War | |||||
| 2003-01-08 | |||||
| Pakistan should do more to police the Afghan border and capture Taliban and al Qaeda leaders hiding in the country, Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said Wednesday. Diplomatspeak follows. Read between the lines. He said the Pakistani government had cooperated a great deal in the U.S.-led war on terror, but could do more. "Rogue elements" within the Pakistani intelligence network might even be helping the extremists, he said.
"Some of the leaders of the Taliban are currently in Pakistan, and this is a cause of concern for us," Abdullah told Reuters in an interview, adding: "There is also a belief that some al Qaeda leaders have gone to border areas on Pakistani soil, or perhaps deeper into Pakistan itself. "Of course it is part of their (Pakistan government) policy to focus on those issues, but we expect some more actions in those fields," he said. "Do something, damm it!" Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks on the United States, is believed by many to be hiding in the rugged and remote border area between the two countries. His DNA, maybe. Abdullah said the border could be policed more effectively on the Pakistani side to stop militants crossing back and forth to carry out attacks. "Firstly, we have to realize that to control the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is not an easy task for any country, for any government," he said.
"Secondly, yes I would say there is the need for more focus by our neighboring country on the issue of our borders. "It is a major challenge for the government of Pakistan, for the security forces there, but it is in the interests of peace and stability in the whole region to focus more on that issue." "You gonna to lock that gate?" Pakistan says it has stationed 60-70,000 troops on its western border with Afghanistan and captured around 400 suspected al Qaeda militants since U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan began in late 2001 and ousted the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Abdullah's comments follow a similar appeal last month from U.S. Lieutenant-General Dan McNeill, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, for Pakistan to commit more troops and use different tactics to police the mountainous border area.
Asked if members of Pakistan's intelligence community might be cooperating with extremist groups, Abdullah said: "We are satisfied with the official policy of the government of Pakistan and the line President (Pervez) Musharraf has taken," adding militants had shown they could threaten peace and stability in both countries. "For its own interests as well, Pakistan is dealing with that issue -- but rogue elements perhaps, they have their own agendas," he said. "Yup" Abdullah said fugitive Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has called for a jihad (holy war) against Americans in Afghanistan, was probably hiding on Pakistani soil.
But Abdullah said he did not think Hekmatyar, one of the warlords who destroyed Kabul in the 1990s, represented a significant threat. Hekmatyar used to enjoy strong support from Pakistan, and Abdullah said he had deep-rooted links with elements in the country. "But I do not believe the government of Pakistan would have any sympathy for him," he said. "He's a dead man walking." | |||||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 Pakistan could do something to counter the jihad indoctrination that passes for media, in Balochistan and NWFP. During to October elections, residents of the jihadi provinces were intimidated into voting for the MMA primitives. A one-man-one-vote-one-time non-choice is hardly conducive to liberty. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-01-08 19:39:10 |