Diplomacy on to ease tension: Operation from Pakistan to continue: US
By Faraz Hashmi
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Commander-in-Chief United States Central Command, General Tommy R. Franks on Saturday said that intense diplomatic efforts were going on to defuse the tension between India and Pakistan.
“I know diplomats are working very, very hard to defuse the tension between the two countries,” Mr Franks told a press conference here at Coalition Information Centre.
Mr Franks, who earlier in the day held a meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the top military leadership, expressed the hope that diplomacy would succeed in resolving the crisis between Pakistan and India.
In his meeting with the president, Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee, Gen Aziz Khan, Vice-Chief of Army Staff Gen Muhammad Yusaf, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza and Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, were also present.
When invited to give his assessment of the chances of an armed conflict, Mr Franks did not say anything in definite terms except for expressing hopes.
“Hopefully they are not close to a war,” he said. However, what he did say in definite terms even though it was not asked by the questioner was that the United States would not move its forces out of Pakistan.
He stated categorically that the United States forces busy carrying out search-and-rescue operations from Pakistan would not be withdrawn.
“I have not, and I will not move our forces away....from Pakistan as we move forward with our operation, even though there are those who continue to talk about the crisis between Pakistan and India,” he said.
He reiterated that they would continue to do their work in cooperation with Pakistan, which had been appreciated by his country.
When asked specifically whether the United States forces were in pursuit of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders inside Pakistan, Mr Franks in a very emphatic tone said ‘no’.
On the debate raging over US forces’ tactics in Afghanistan and their failure to find clue about Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omer, he admitted that they did not know about the location of the two.
He said they had been receiving intelligence reports daily about the Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. These reports were followed up regularly and the search operation was not restricted to Afghanistan but spread over great many countries, he added. He rejected the notion that the tactics of the US troops were not correct.
Regarding reports of Allied Force’s landing at Karachi international airport and its use as a staging base for operations in Afghanistan, he said, international assistance security force led by the UK were landing at Karachi.
On the military cooperation between the United States and Pakistan, he said it had grown since September 11 incidents. “There is solid sense of cooperation,” he said, adding that it would strengthen further in the days ahead.
He said he had not discussed the issue with Pakistani authorities as it was not included in his area of responsibility.
Mr Franks said that these forces were not concerned with the Operation Enduring Peace going on in Afghanistan.
On a question whether there was a possibility of any action against Iran in the light of some reports that Al-Qaeda and Taliban were fleeing the region through that country, he said they had seen such reports.
However without saying anything specific about Iran, he said there were a variety of ways of handling the intelligence reports about the people they were looking for. He said they had security arrangement with some countries and exchange of information with others.
Gen Franks denied reports that Riyadh had made any request for the withdrawal of the US forces stationed in the kingdom. “I have not seen any evidence of that request,” he added.
Replying to a question about the Pakistan-US military relationship, Gen Franks said that military to military cooperation between the two countries will grow and “I think we see evidence of that now.”
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Commander-in-Chief United States Central Command, General Tommy R. Franks on Saturday said that intense diplomatic efforts were going on to defuse the tension between India and Pakistan.
