ISLAMABAD, July 20: Pakistan on Friday warned the United States against what it characterised as “irresponsible and dangerous” calls by top American officials for unilateral military action against alleged Al Qaeda ‘safe havens’ in the country’s tribal areas.
In a statement issued here, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said such comments, especially in the US media, often betrayed impatience.
She was referring to a string of recent comments by the US officials that in the hypothetical situation of “actionable targets” on the Pakistan side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the US would not rule out any options including striking such targets.
She said that such comments disregarded “the imperative of prudence and patience” necessary for the success of a comprehensive approach required to deal with this global danger.
Ms Aslam said: “The success of the international community in fighting terrorism depends essentially on cooperation, including sharing of concrete and actionable information and intelligence. We cannot, nor should we be expected to take indiscriminate action over a large territory without any precise information about any Al Qaeda or terrorist hideout.”
While pointing out that Pakistan-US cooperation and close coordination in the international campaign against terrorism had yielded concrete results in the disruption of Al Qaeda and capture of its key leaders and operatives, she said: “It would be counterproductive to create an impression of any divergences or differences on the issue of counter-terrorism.”
Reiterating that whatever counter-terrorism action is to be taken inside Pakistan, it would be taken by the country’s own security forces, she said: “This has been and remains the basis of our cooperation with the US.”
