PAKISTAN’S army chief told parliament’s defence committee the US should focus on stabilising Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack militant groups in a crucial border region, a committee member told reporters today.
Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani’s comments could deepen tensions in the US-Pakistan relationship, an alliance critical to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan before the end of 2014 when NATO combat troops are due home.
Kayani said Pakistan alone would decide if and when to launch a full-scale offensive in North Waziristan, which Western intelligence agencies say is a sanctuary for militants who cross the border to attack US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
He also said the US would have to think “10 times” before taking any unilateral action there. Pakistan is not like Iraq or Afghanistan, the parliamentarian quoted Kayani as saying, suggesting that any North Waziristan operation would be very risky.
The MP spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The problem lies in Afghanistan, not Pakistan,” the parliamentarian quoted Kayani as telling the committee in a national security briefing at army headquarters.
The US, the source of billions of dollars in aid, has urged Pakistan over the years to go after militant groups in North Waziristan, a rugged mountainous region where militants have forged ties with powerful tribes.
“The purpose of this briefing was to mobilize support domestically and to signal to the US that this is the line we are not going to cross at this stage,” political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said.
“They have signalled what can and what cannot be done.”
The pressure on Pakistan has become acute since US special forces killed Osama bin Laden in May in a Pakistani garrison town where he had apparently been living for years.
Although ties have been severely damaged over the issue of militancy, few expect a complete rupture.
Pakistan’s powerful military, which sets security and foreign policy, has been reluctant to attack North Waziristan, saying it was stretched fighting homegrown Taliban fighters elsewhere in Pakistan.
“If someone convinced me that all problems will be solved by taking action in North Waziristan, I’d do it tomorrow,” the parliamentarian quoted Kayani as saying.
“If we need to take action, we will do it on our schedule and according to our capacity.”
