Washington: US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the US will do whatever it takes to protect its forces in Afghanistan.
"Without ever getting into the details of what we may or may not do, I think it suffices to say that the United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces," Fox News quoted Panetta, as saying.
Panetta expressed outright frustration with the Pakistani leadership and the safe havens they provide the Taliban in the Northwest Frontier province, especially the Haqqani network.
"We cannot continue to tolerate a situation where Haqqanis, terrorists on their side of the border, come across, attack our troops, kill our troops, and then return to a safe haven in Pakistan. That’s intolerable," Panetta said.
"You know we have urged them time and time again that they have to deal with that situation, that we cannot allow that to happen. And we’ve reached the limits of our patience with regards to just standing back and not having the Pakistani’s take the action that they have to take if we’re going to control that situation," he added.
He added the US is at war in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), but stopped short of saying the US was at war with Pakistan.
They were the strongest words yet from a US defence secretary about the "double game" Pakistan is playing with the US in Afghanistan, stated Fox News.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, June 09, 2012, 12:39