Comments of US official criticized: Pakistan’s role in war on terror
ISLAMABAD, May 6: Director-General of ISPR Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan on Saturday dismissed US ambassador in-charge of counterterrorism Henry Crumpton’s assertion that Pakistan was not doing enough in the war on terror as totally absurd.
Mr Crumpton had told reporters at the US Embassy in Kabul after talks with Afghan officials on Saturday that parts of Pakistan were a “safe haven” for militants and that Osama bin Laden was more likely to be hiding there than in Afghanistan.
“Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is no. I have conveyed that to them, other US officials have conveyed that to them,” Mr Crumpton said.
“It is totally absurd,” said Gen Sultan responding to the US official’s comments. “No one has conveyed this thing to Pakistan, and if someone claims so, it is absurd.”
Mr Crumpton lauded Pakistan for arresting “hundreds and hundreds” of Al Qaeda figures but said it needed to do more.
“Our expectation is that they will continue to make progress, and we know that it’s difficult,” he said. Pakistan “can’t remain a safe haven for enemy forces, and right now parts of Pakistan are indeed that.”
Mr Crumpton said US officials continued to believe that Al Qaeda leader Osama was somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and more likely on the Pakistani side.
A senior security official in Islamabad said Mr Crumpton, during meetings with Pakistani intelligence and government officials this week, had praised Pakistan for its efforts to hunt down militants.
“I am surprised that he praised us here, and is saying something else in Kabul,” the official said.
He added that Gen John Abizaid, the chief of the US Central Command, had praised and thanked Pakistan when he had met President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday.—AP
