Islamabad: Pakistan today asked the US to
work closely with it to ensure that Washington's new policy
for Afghanistan, including a troop surge, does not affect
Pakistani interests and security.
"Pakistan looks forward to engaging closely with the
US in understanding the full import of the new strategy and to
ensure that there would be no adverse fallout on Pakistan,"
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.
The Foreign Office was reacting to President Barack
Obama's announcement that the US intends to send 30,000
additional troops to Afghanistan, taking the total number of
American soldiers there to 100,000, and that deployments will
be scaled back from July 2011.
Pakistan's top leaders have expressed concern over the
past few months that the deployment of additional US troops in
Afghanistan could prompt Taliban fighters to sneak across the
border to seek refuge in Pakistani territory.
They have insisted that the US should work closely
with Pakistan in framing and implementing any new policy for
Afghanistan.
Basit said: "Pakistan and the US need to closely
coordinate their efforts to achieve shared objectives. There is
certainly the need for clarity and coordination on all aspects
of the implementation of the strategy."
Pakistan has "taken careful note" of Obama's new
Afghan strategy, Basit said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009, 00:35