Washington: As the US administration
seeks to expand its highly successful drone strikes to Quetta,
where many of the high-profile terrorists are said to be
hiding, Pakistani authorities warned of severe fallout, a news
report said on Monday.
"The prospect of Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta,
a sprawling city, signals a new US resolve to decapitate the
Taliban. But it also risks rupturing Washington's relationship
with Islamabad," the Los Angeles Times reported today.
The US daily said the American officials are pushing
to expand the drone strikes to Quetta, the provincial capital
of Balochistan, to put pressure on the government to pursue
Taliban leaders based in the city. The US daily said American
officials believe it is essential to push Pakistanis to take
more serious actions against those using its territory as its
sanctuary.
"What the Pakistanis have to do is tell the Taliban
that there is too much pressure from the US; we can't allow
you to have sanctuary inside Pakistan anymore," an unnamed US
official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
However, there are other in the administration who
are more skeptical of such a move.
The warning has come from Pakistan too.
"We are not a banana republic," a senior Pakistani
official involved in discussions of security issues with the
Obama administration was quoted as saying.
If the US follows through, the official said, "this
might be the end of the road."
President Barack Obama, in his interview to the CBS
yesterday, said that the US wants more cooperation from
Pakistan in this regard and warned his administration would
not hesitate in striking against high value targets, if it had
actionable intelligence.
"A lot of this border region is big and complicated.
And even a city like Quetta is a big city. And, you know, we
have to respect the sovereignty of Pakistan as we engage in
potential actions that would involve going into a major
metropolitan area with a lot of civilians around it," the
president said.
He expected Pakistan to cooperate "more effectively"
in the future than they have in the past". Obama said said he
did not want to comment on certain "sensitive aspects to our
efforts in this border region".
"I think it is fair to say...that if we've got actual
war intelligence on high-ranking al-Qaeda leaders, or for
those matter high-ranking Taliban leaders who are directing
actions against US troops, then we will take action," he said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 14, 2009, 22:34