MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a militant hide-out in a major Al-Qaeda and Taleban sanctuary on the Afghan border on Friday, killing two militants, officials said. The attack in North Waziristan coincided with a visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates aimed at persuading Pakistan to expand its military campaign against Afghan militants in lawless ethnic Pashtun lands who cross the border to fight US troops.
“An intense exchange of fire is going on between militants and the security forces,” said an intelligence official in the region who declined to be identified. Residents said authorities had imposed a curfew as security forces attacked the militants on the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.
Pakistan’s Army launched an offensive in neighboring South Waziristan in October against Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taleban attacking the state but has resisted US pressure to expand its campaign to Afghan Taleban factions.
Gates sought to build bridges with the next generation of Pakistan’s military leaders on Friday and end a “trust deficit” he said has hampered cooperation against militancy.
Speaking at Pakistan’s most prestigious military academy, the National Defense University, Gates said distrust between the allies had been compounded by an organized propaganda campaign orchestrated by their common enemy.
Gates said he had been in government when the United States made a “grave mistake” by abandoning Afghanistan and cutting defense ties with Pakistan after US- and Pakistani-backed guerrillas drove Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.
“That is largely the reason for a very real, and very understandable, trust deficit — one that has made it more difficult for us to work together to confront the common threat of extremism,” he said. Gates arrived on Thursday in Pakistan, urging it to root out Afghan Taleban factions based in its northwestern border enclaves from where they have been orchestrating an intensified insurgency in Afghanistan.
