New York: While the United States is planning a massive surge in Afghanistan, what may be seen as a final assault against al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremist groups, Pakistan is not supportive of any such US move.
Pakistan intelligence officials say Islamabad is apprehensive about the expanding US offensive, as it feels that it could create further problems in already troubled Balochistan.
Pakistan fears that allied troops fighting in southern Afghanistan will force the militants across the border into the country, which can inflame Balochistan further, officials said.
They said Pakistan does not have enough troops to counter the infiltration on its western border, and moreover it can not afford to move troops from the Indian border, The New York Times reported.
Pakistan’s stand clearly suggests that it still considers India the prime threat and the Taliban a problem that can be tackled or negotiated.
It also points towards probable fissures in the alliance engaged against the outlawed outfits in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration has expressed its frustration many a times in the recent past over Pakistan’s inaction against the full array of Islamic militants using the country as a base.
After intense international pressure, Islamabad initiated operation against the Taliban, which it felt is threatening country’s sovereignty, while ignoring the Taliban and other terrorist groups fighting Americans in Afghanistan or terrorising India, US officials said.
The US believes that Pakistan was still picking proxies and choosing enemies among various Islamic militant groups inside the country.
General Stanley A McChrystal, who is the new leader of NATO combat operations in Afghanistan, recently said that Pakistan must crush the terror safe havens based on its soil which the Afghan Taliban utilise for their operations.
“What I would love is for the government of Pakistan to have the ability to completely eliminate the safe havens that the Afghan Taliban enjoy,” said McChrystal.
ANI
