WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Militants based in Pakistani safe havens intensify cross-border attacks in Afghanistan that the security cooperation between U.S. and Pakistan remained under heavy pressure from U.S. officials.
Tuesday, 16 people died after armed militants besieged for hours at the U.S. Embassy and the NATO headquarters in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, is due to an attack Haqqani network, a group allied with Al Qaeda and the Taliban based in Pakistan's side of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
U.S. officials said they believed that the Haqqani network has also made a truck bombing Saturday in an outpost of NATO in the Afghan province of Wardak, killing four civilians and wounded 77 American soldiers.
Tuesday, 16 people died after armed militants besieged for hours at the U.S. Embassy and the NATO headquarters in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, is due to an attack Haqqani network, a group allied with Al Qaeda and the Taliban based in Pakistan's side of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
U.S. officials said they believed that the Haqqani network has also made a truck bombing Saturday in an outpost of NATO in the Afghan province of Wardak, killing four civilians and wounded 77 American soldiers.
Defense Secretary of Pakistan, Leon Panetta, warned Wednesday that the U.S. "do everything possible" to protect U.S. forces Pakistan attacks militants based in Afghanistan stage.
"Again and again we have urged Pakistan to use its influence to such attacks Haqqanis. And we have made little progress in this area," said Panetta.
"I think the message that they (the Pakistanis) need to know is: we will do everything possible to defend our forces," he added.
Several government officials said U.S. efforts in the United States and NATO to wipe out, or at least mitigate, militants in Afghanistan is likely to fail as long as groups such as the Haqqani network can operate with impunity in Pakistan relatively remote areas tribal.
But U.S. authorities have said that just because small groups Haqqani militants could attack high-profile targets in Kabul, away from their safe haven, does not mean that the militants had complete control of the country.
"The Haqqani is a major threat to security in Afghanistan, but they are not even able to take over the country," the official said.
The network is suspected hide-outs in Pakistan has become the main target of attacks by CIA drones. But U.S. officials said Pakistani officials had put pressure on terrorism, the United States for almost a year to curb the illegal activities inside Pakistan.
The recent arrest in an operation in Pakistan, USA, a leader of Al Qaeda known as Younis al Mauretania, was a respite from tensions between the two countries. However, an official with the U.S. national security said the arrest to Mauritania was the only positive development in recent years in a relationship of struggle against terrorism otherwise bleak.
"Bilateral relations are still in great difficulty, but Atmospherics are a bit 'better," said Bruce Riedel, former CIA analyst who advised the Obama administration's policy in the region. "Name calling is largely over now."
"The basic difference"
That has been "some cooperation in the interrogation of the Mauritania. But the suspicion has not disappeared, nor the fundamental difference in approach to terrorism," said Riedel.
A current U.S. official was more optimistic and said: "Clearly the relationship is complicated, but both sides still find ways to do things together against a common enemy -. Al-Qaeda and its extremist allies "
Relations between the CIA and Pakistan's main spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence line, are in recession for months.
First of all, the CIA station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan has had to leave after her name was leaked to local press last year. Ties further deteriorated after the CIA contractor Raymond Davis was arrested in the Pakistani authorities after being accused of killing two men, who said he tried to rob him. Davis was later released.
Then in May the U.S. team was killed by commandos hiding place of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, to notify local authorities in advance.
In the wake of these incidents, the Pakistani authorities deported at least 100 U.S. military personnel who were trained Pakistani anti-terrorist forces. Pakistani authorities have also begun to refuse new visas to U.S. personnel, including CIA officers.
Some U.S. officials in Pakistan have been asked to extend their period of service, so operations are not cut dramatically, officials said, but the risk to force their morale and endurance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment