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WASHINGTON, Aug 1: US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said that the Bush administration does not expect Pakistan to invite American troops over to tribal areas to fight Al Qaeda terrorists.
His comments, made in an interview to CNN on Tuesday, follow recent statements by senior US officials that Washington may take direct military action to destroy an Al Qaeda safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Mr Cheney praised Pakistan’s role in the war against terror and said that Washington was working closely with Islamabad in this war.
“We work closely with President Musharraf and his government in Pakistan. We’ve captured and killed a lot of Al Qaeda in Pakistan. But it’s obviously a sovereign state,” said Mr Cheney when asked if the US was going to go after Al Qaeda activists allegedly hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt. “They’ve got reason to go after Al Qaeda.”
“Well, I don’t expect that to happen,” said Mr Cheney as CNN’s Larry King asked him if he believed Pakistan could ask US troops inside the tribal belt to conduct operations against Al Qaeda.“I think the relationship we have at present is a good one. We have been able to collaborate closely together on a wide range of operations. And I think we’ll be able to continue doing that.”
SUPPORT REAFFIRMED: Meanwhile, White House spokesman Tony Snow in a press talk reaffirmed the Bush administration’s support for Gen Musharraf.
“The Pakistanis are once again engaged in very serious efforts to go after Al Qaeda and Taliban in their midst ... We’re going to do what we can to support them,” Mr Snow said.
“Our policy toward Pakistan and toward bin Laden and Al Qaeda have been pretty consistent ... obviously Osama bin Laden remains somebody who is a priority for us,” he said.
He was responding to a statement by the Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who said that if elected president he would be ready to order military strikes against Al Qaeda in Pakistan, even if Islamabad objects.
“There are a lot of things that people are going to say on the campaign trail,” Mr Snow said.
He reiterated that the United States recognized Pakistan’s sovereignty.
