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| 18 March 2004 | Thursday | 26 Muharram 1425 |
Pakistan to push for co-ordinated approach: War on terrorism
ISLAMABAD, March 17: Pakistan is likely to emphasise the need for a more co-ordinated and collective approach to making achievable the common objectives of war against terrorism during talks with the US secretary of State Colin Powell here on Thursday.
"All sides collectively need to do more," will be the clear message from Pakistan, source said. Sources said Pakistan would also be raising the issue of inadequate security cover provided by the US government in Afghanistan where the militias remain powerful and assertive.
The strength of US troops in Afghanistan is far less than what it has committed in Iraq even though US top military officials including the CENTCOM chief are on record as saying that the Afghanistan operation is as difficult as that of Iraq.
Currently, between 11,000 and 13,000 American troops are deployed in Afghanistan while in Iraq they range between 130,000 and 140,000. Despite limitation of its own, the constant refrain of the US administration has been that Pakistan ought "to do more" on the Afghanistan front.
Pakistan has deployed more than 70,000 troops along the Afghan border to support the US pursuit for Al Qaeda members and Taliban regime remnants. However, the 2,500 Km long porous border with Afghanistan makes complete monitoring of the cross border movement virtually impossible.
Pakistan is likely to also emphasise the fact that numerous stateless zones in Afghanistan and complete lack of security in these zones negatively impact the general law and order situation, economic development and reconstruction.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is likely to assure the visiting US secretary of State that no past or present Pakistani government official was involved in the nuclear proliferation with Dr A. Q Khan.
"Our investigations have been thorough and comprehensive and have established no involvement of any government official," a well placed source said.
The source said that the non-proliferation measures taken by Pakistan would be discussed between the two sides, including export control legislation that is in the works.
A well-informed source hinted that Pakistan was likely to again raise the issue of F-16s with the US secretary of State, saying: "Upgrading our conventional military capacity will always remain a talking point with the US Administration."
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