ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military said Thursday that it was unlikely the country would buckle under US pressure to expand its offensive against Taleban insurgents in its north-western tribal region.
The statement came during the visit of United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates who arrived in Pakistan from New Delhi for talks on the new US strategy in neighboring Afghanistan.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters that Pakistan would need six months to one year to launch a fresh military offensive since the country still needed to “stabilize existing gains” from its earlier assaults against the insurgents.
Pakistan troops launched a major offensive in the country’s restive South Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border against Taleban groups who are blamed for killing thousands of civilians and security personnel across Pakistan.
The Taleban extremists have retaliated against the assault with a brutal campaign of suicide bombings that have killed more than 600 people over the last two and half months.
But Washington is pressing Islamabad to expand the military action to neighboring North Waziristan against Taleban groups who mainly target the NATO-led international troops in Afghanistan.
The US security officials believe Pakistan’s expansion of war against terrorism would be vital for its success in Afghanistan as it sends an additional 30,000 troops, reportedly increasing CIA agents from 20 to 25 percent and calling in 50,000 extra security contractors.
Gates pressed the point in a separate meeting with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and his Pakistani counterpart Ahmed Mukhtar, said an official privy to the talks.
“Only by pressuring all of these groups on both sides of the border will Afghanistan and Pakistan be able to rid themselves of this scourge for good,” Gates said in an opinion piece published in The News daily.
However, he acknowledged Islamabad’s fear that Washington’s tactics in Afghanistan could provoke a backlash in Pakistan.
Gates’ itinerary for his first visit to Pakistan as US President Barack Obama’s defense secretary also included a series of interviews with Pakistani journalists.
Officials said journalists are likely to inquire about issues such as the much-condemned US drone strikes in the tribal belt, stricter security checks for Pakistanis at US airports and bilateral relations.
Gates’ visit comes ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan scheduled for Jan. 28 in London.
He arrived in Islamabad after a two-day visit to India, where he discussed the Taleban threat to regional stability.
In New Delhi, Gates had warned that an Al-Qaedaled terrorist syndicate in Afghanistan and Pakistan were seeking to destabilize the whole of South Asia, and could even provoke a war between Pakistan and India.
The US secretary praised India’s “statesmanship” after the Mumbai attacks allegedly by Pakistan-based Islamist militants. But he expressed concern about Indian patience in the face of any further such assaults.
At least 166 people were killed in the November 2008 massacre, which triggered a freeze in the four-year peace talks between the two nuclear-armed nations.
