Pakistan needs to deal with militants: US

WASHINGTON: Militants hiding in the tribal areas are not a threat to Pakistan alone but also to the entire world and Pakistan needs to deal with them, a State Department official said on Wednesday.

"We do make clear that there is an important security interest, not only for the United States and the region but for the globe, regarding the security in those border areas," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a briefing in Washington."This is Pakistani territory, Pakistan sovereign territory. So they need to address those issues."

The briefing was held against the background of a missile strike on a village near Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.

Pentagon officials also confirmed the media report, attributed to Pakistani military officials, that the missile strike which killed a number of militants and destroyed a container of arms and ammunition was the result of US and Pakistani intelligence sharing.

A spokesman for the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in Afghanistan, told Dawn that the United States always consulted Pakistan before conducting such operations.

"We have always said in conducting our operations we do work with the Pakistani government and we do consider them an ally in the war against terror," said Lt Commander William Speaks.

At the State Department, spokesman McCormack said that the US was "happy to talk about" such operations with Pakistani officials and "we are happy to cooperate to the extent that cooperation is welcome."

Mr McCormack, however, acknowledged that the question of militancy in the tribal areas had more than one angle. "You have to address the security angle. You have to address the political angle and the economic angle," he said.

He said that the United States also had more than one channel for discussing this issue with Pakistan.

"We do have a close working relationship, not only through military-to-military channels but political-to-political channels with the leadership of President Zardari and his government, as well as with the military," he said.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen's visit to Islamabad on Tuesday was an example of US efforts to stay engaged with the political and military leadership in Pakistan, he said.

While both Pakistani and US officials are reluctant to go beyond guarded response to day-to-day developments, diplomatic sources in Washington say that the two governments do have an understanding on Predator strikes.

But they also say that the Sept 3 attack by US ground forces inside Pakistan was an "anomaly" and is unlikely to be repeated. The Predators strikes will continue.

"The Predator is weapon often deployed with Pakistan's consent," said one such diplomatic source who did not want to be identified.

The sources explained the Predators were directly controlled by CIA and not the Pentagon and the CIA had coordinated a number of these attacks with the ISI.

"The Predator will remain a mystery element in this war," said a source. "But ground troops may not be used again, at least not in the near future."

The sources noted that an unusually strong reaction in Pakistan to the Sept 3 attack had alarmed the US administration which was willing to take immediate steps to deescalate the situation and that's why Admiral Mullen was sent to Islamabad.

"The Americans concede that the political reaction in Pakistan went totally out of control," said one diplomatic source.

But the sources said media reports that the Pakistani military had decided to shoot at US troops or helicopters that cross into Pakistan did not depict the real picture.

"That's never an option," said the source. "Relations between the two militaries remain strong and Pakistan does not want to jeopardise it."

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Wright, told Dawn that the Pentagon stayed in touch with the Pakistani military at a regular basis and often coordinated its actions along the Pak-Afghan border with the Pakistanis.

"No, I do not foresee tensions between the two militaries," he said.

Diplomatic sources said that while the Americans had agreed not to conduct operations that infuriated Pakistani public opinion, the Pakistanis also understood that they could not afford to provoke America too much.

"A happy medium is being found," said one such source. "You will see Americans showing respect for Pakistan's sovereignty and Pakistanis showing respect for American concerns against the Jihadi groups."

Dawn