Washington: US President Barack Obama’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said the Obama administration is facing a ‘dilemma’ in Pakistan, as unlike Afghanistan it can not send troops in that country to tackle the Taliban and al Qaeda.
“The dilemma is that the leadership of both al Qaeda and Taliban are in a neighbouring country (of Afghanistan) where our troops cannot fight. And therefore we have to find other means, working for the Pakistanis and other means, to deal with the groups,” Holbrooke said in the PBS’s famous Charlie Rose show.
While admitting that Washington played a major role in creating the Taliban after the American forces pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, Holbrooke said it was Pakistan which played an instrumental role in constructing extremist groups such as the Taliban.
When enquired that what effect the recent Pakistan visits of top US officials would have, he replied : “That is yet to be determined.”
Asserting that there were no US troops on Pakistan’s soil, Holbrooke backed drone attacks, saying they have proved very successful from America’s point of view.
“Some of the most dangerous people in the world ... and posing the most serious threats imaginable to the United States and Pakistan at the beginning of this year are not alive today... (like) Baitullah Mehsud, the director of al Qaeda’s external operations. These are men who the Pakistani army has announced accurately are no longer alive,” Holbrooke said.
“These are very important moves forward,” he added.
ANI
First Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 16:45