ISLAMABAD, April 18: Pakistan is planning to launch an operation against terrorists in North Waziristan as US forces prepare to undertake a spring offensive in Afghanistan. This was stated by Commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen David Barno, while talking to journalists at the US Embassy here on Monday.

Referring to a meeting of the Tripartite Commission of the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan held earlier in the day, he said: “We collectively feel that there is a need to undertake an operation in North Waziristan. That’s an area where I think the Pakistani military is about to undertake a military operation to keep pressure on terrorist networks.

“We are in the middle of beginning a spring offensive and the Pakistani forces are busy moving troops to North Waziristan to continue to put pressure on terrorist networks,” he said.

Gen Barno, who completed his tenure in the region after having been posted in October 2003, said he visited Pakistan frequently during his 18-month stay to hold meetings with senior military and intelligence officers.

He said that besides Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, his areas of responsibility included Pakistan as head of the combined forces in Afghanistan.

Replying to a question about incidents of firing between Pakistan and Afghan troops along the border, Gen Barno said the number of such incidents had reduced significantly as Pakistani liaison officers deployed at the coalition operational headquarters in Afghanistan shared information on activities of forces on both sides of the border.

Gen Barno warned that remnants of Taliban and Al Qaeda were planning to stage some high visibility attack over the next six to nine months that would ‘get them back on the scoreboard’ after suffering major strategic defeats last year.

“There are continuing threats out there. The enemy operations taper off during winter and make resurgence during spring which has been a pattern over the last few years.”

The US general said though the popular support for the Taliban and their remnants in Afghanistan had decreased the terrorist threat was still there.

“Terrorists are not going to go away and the only way to combat them is to put pressure on them and disrupt their operations. We will continue to see attacks in Afghanistan. The war is not over.”

About the pockets of support for the Taliban and others terrorist groups, Gen Barno identified areas in northern and eastern Afghanistan where coalition forces or the central government were not present.

He said the number of Nato troops in Afghanistan would be increased from their current strength of 8,500. By June 1, Nato forces would have the military responsibility of the northern Afghanistan and would expand further into the western parts of the country, he said.

Gen Barno said the hunt for Osama bin Laden remained an intelligence challenge. He said as compared to a military operation, the hunt for a single individual in rugged mountains was a difficult task, but efforts to find Osama would not be given up till success was achieved.

Talking about major challenges in the coming days, Gen Barno said Al Qaeda wanted chaos in the region and remnants of the Taliban regime, including Gulbadin Hekmatyar’s group and others, were still a threat and efforts were on to tackle them.

When asked about Iranian influence in Afghanistan, especially in Herat, Gen Barno said Iran had an interest in that area as it was situated on their border. “I have not seen indications that they are sending weapons into Afghanistan.

When asked if arms had made way into Balochistan to create trouble in Pakistan, Lt-Gen Barno said: “I don’t know. I have not seen any intelligence report in this regard. But we don’t have any intelligence focussed on that part of the border on either side.”

In reply to a question about poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, he said it had declined during the past three months and the UN had documented that there was a significant decrease in the first part of this year. However, he said, a narcotics network operated in Afghanistan and the Karzai government had launched an operation to tackle the problem.

TRIPARTITE MEETING: The tenth meeting of the tripartite commission held here on Monday was attended by Pakistan Army’s Director-General Military Operations Maj-Gen Mohammad Yousaf, Lt-Gen Sher Karimi of the Afghan army and Lt-Gen Barno of the US military.