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| November 19, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 16, 1426 |
Relief troops to stay till needed: Rocca
PESHAWAR, Nov 18: US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca on Friday said that the US military personnel involved in relief and rehabilitation work would continue to stay in Pakistan as long as it was required. But, she stressed, it was wrong to exploit the presence of those military personnel for political purpose.
Her remarks came in an obvious allusion to religious parties that have been criticizing the government for allowing the US and NATO troops to take part in the relief and rehabilitation work in quake-hit parts of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.
“We are there at the request of the government of Pakistan and so I guess we will stay for as long as we are needed,” she told reporters here at the US consulate.
Asked how she viewed concerns about the involvement of jihadi groups in relief work and criticism of the US military presence in Pakistan, Ms Rocca said the United States was there to “help the Kashmiris” and its assistance should be welcomed.
“This is a humanitarian catastrophe that has affected everybody,” she said.
“And our hope is that everybody who is helping is there because it is a humanitarian crisis. To use it for political purposes would be wrong.
“We are not using it as such. Our hope is that no one would use what is a humanitarian crisis for their political end.”
She expressed the hope that the donors’ conference in Islamabad on Saturday would be a success. She declined to disclose the quantum of assistance the US would announce at the conference, saying that it would come from the head of the US delegation to the meeting.
<>RECONCILIATION WITH MILITANTS: Ms Rocca ruled out any reconciliation with Al Qaeda and their Taliban supporters, saying their insurgency in Afghanistan was on the wane.
“It is hard to imagine there will be any reconciliation between Al Qaeda and the United States in view of the fact that there is absolutely no let up in their attempts to kill Americans and they continue to cause instability around the world. I think that’s clear.”
Ms Rocca said that those (of the Taliban) who were in league with Al Qaeda and had caused violence were not likely to enter into reconciliation with the United States. “But those who renounce violence and choose to become part of the reconciliation process, can become part of the dispensation in Afghanistan.”
Ms Rocca denied reports that US was trying to seek dialogue with the Taliban and Al Qaeda through a former Pakistani parliamentarian known for contacts with militants.
“There was no such request made,” she said.
A careful and cautious Rocca also said she did not know of ‘any connection’ between insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq. She sought to downplay the surge in Afghan violence, saying the Taliban were on the wane and the country held a bright future.
She said people tended to forget how far Afghanistan had come over the past four years which, she added, had had presidential and parliamentary elections. She, however, acknowledged that a lot remains to be done in that country.
She said the US was working with Pakistan to secure borders with Afghanistan and arrest the ‘miscreants.’
“We are going to continue that effort,” she said. She paid tributes to the Pakistan Army which, she pointed out, had lost more than 200 of its men fighting militants in the region bordering Afghanistan.
Ms Rocca welcomed the opening of five crossing points along the Line of Control and said the Pakistani and Indian governments had shown great leadership.
She said the US would continue to encourage that process so that “all issues between the two countries could be resolved peacefully”.
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