Taliban enjoy Pakistan as a safe place, CIA Chief

Taliban enjoy Pakistan as a safe place, CIA Chief

Director General CIA David Petraeus told congressional committee that Afghan Taliban enjoy Pakistan as a safe place, but stressed that Afghan forces should not enter Pakistan to destroy their shelters as they are already facing a lot of threats within their
boundaries.

“With respect should the Afghan forces be allowed to go, well, I think that’s obviously a question for Afghanistan, but I think they probably have sufficient fights on their hands without invading the soil of another country, even as significant as is the
threat that is posed by some of these safe havens across the border,” Petraeus said.

He also asked the committee that USA must build up an alternative route to provide US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. He educated the committee that Russia and USA are already working together to solve the issue.

“Another example actually of cooperative endeavour is the northern distribution network that supplies Afghanistan through the north — one of the ways of that transits Russian soil. It’s very important, especially as Pakistan has closed the Nato groundlines
of communication that run through Pakistan,” he added.

While debating Pakistan’s role in Afghan issue, National Intelligence Director, James Clapper asserted that high-ranked Taliban leaders continue to reside in Pakistan and enjoy it as a shelter.

The probability of permitting Afghan forces to enter Pakistan and destroy their sanctuaries was explored by Congresswoman Jan Shakowsky.

“Can we reasonably expect that the Afghan forces will be able to defend against an insurgency that enjoys its safe haven once we draw down our troops?” she enquired.

“Well, first of all, there’s no question that there are elements in Pakistan that have enjoyed sanctuary and that cause major problems for Afghanistan and for the Afghan and coalition forces that are seeking to provide security to enable the development
of the new Afghanistan,” General Petraeus answered.

He further stated that Pakistan just detained some well-known Taliban and Al-Qaeda officials. He added that they should be vigilant in assessing the capability of Pakistani forces and their keenness in taking down the Haqqani Network in Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Afghan Taliban existing in Balochistan.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=11743

Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Feb 4 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry