| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| No hot pursuit in Pakistan: Gates |
| 2009-12-08 |
| [Dawn] Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday the United States would not pursue Taliban leaders in Pakistan and that it was up to Islamabad to address the threat posed by militants on its territory. His comments followed a report the White House had granted authority to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to expand a bombing campaign in Pakistan by unmanned aircraft to strike Taliban and Al-Qaeda figures. 'Pakistan is a sovereign government. We are in a partnership with them. I think at this point it's up to the Pakistani military to deal with this problem,' Gates told CBS News' 'Face the Nation.' He added that the United States had confidence that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was secure despite the threat posed by insurgents. 'We're comfortable' with the security of the country's atomic weapons, Gates said. The New York Times reported on Friday that the CIA had been authorized to step up the use of armed drones in Pakistan's tribal areas to hunt down and strike suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders. The Times, citing unnamed sources, said that the decision came last week, coinciding with President Barack Obama's announcement Tuesday to deploy 30,000 additional US troops to fight Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. US officials were also talking with Pakistan about using the drones to strike in Balochistan -- a vast region outside of the tribal areas that borders Afghanistan and Iran -- where Afghan Taliban leaders are reportedly hiding, the Times wrote. The CIA declined to comment on the report. Appearing on the same program, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Pakistan for launching an offensive against the Taliban inside its borders, saying Islamabad had appeared reluctant to take such action in the past. 'You know if you had told us a year ago that the Pakistani army would be going after Pakistani Taliban, I think a lot of people would've said no, that couldn't ever happen, that's not the way it works,' she said. 'But they saw the threat to their sovereignty,' said Clinton, citing insurgent attacks on government targets in Pakistan. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 VARIOUS NET > seems AFGHAN Prez KARZAI has repor said that Afghanistan will need 15-20 years of contin US-World Aid, etc. to survive + defeat the Militants??? IOW, 2025-2030. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-12-08 21:01 |
| #3 The record shows that in the two dimensional sense, we've avoided it. However, in the three dimensional sense, we've been rather active in doing it. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-12-08 15:40 |
| #2 Given the Times' track record, I wouldn't hold out much hope of that not happening. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-12-08 13:49 |
| #1 I would hope that these kinds of ops are not announced. |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-12-08 12:58 |