Pakistani soldiers at Pak-Afghan border .— File Photo
Pakistani soldiers at Pak-Afghan border. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has told Washington that US forces must seal the Afghan border in the event of any offensive against the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan, an official said Saturday.

The Haqqanis, blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan and whose leaders are believed to be based in the Pakistani tribal district, is one of the thorniest issues between Islamabad and Washington.

“The Americans have been repeatedly told that they will have to seal off the border on the Afghan side whenever an operation is launched in North Waziristan,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.

Without protecting the porous, mountainous border, militants would simply escape into Afghanistan, where Pakistan has no writ, the official explained.

He claimed that Americans have “never been encouraging on this point” and accused them of failing to seal the border when operations were planned twice before in North Waziristan.

On August 3, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pakistani and US officials were considering joint counter-terrorism campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Haqqanis and Taliban fighters who attack Pakistan.

The paper said the campaigns would mark an upturn in cooperation after more than a year of rancorous relations and stamp out major threats facing each country.

Pakistani officials later denied any agreement with the United States for a joint operation in North Waziristan, and said “routine” actions on each side of the border “should not be mistaken for 'joint operations'”.

Opinion

Taliban’s road ahead
Updated 19 Aug 2021

Taliban’s road ahead

Without international legitimacy they cannot unlock the reserves or reactivate donor funding lines.
The perfect man
19 Aug 2021

The perfect man

Imam Husain exemplified perfection in every sense of the word.
Return of the Taliban
Updated 18 Aug 2021

Return of the Taliban

The new dispensation in Afghanistan will be required to alleviate the concerns over human rights issues.

Editorial

19 Aug 2021

Militancy concerns

HAVING made their way to Kabul like a hot knife through butter, the Afghan Taliban are saying all the right things ...
Horrific assault
Updated 19 Aug 2021

Horrific assault

There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to correct the public narrative around women’s rights.
19 Aug 2021

Decreasing FDI flows

THE consistent decline in FDI flows into Pakistan in recent years should worry our economic managers. The net flows...
Price of US follies
Updated 18 Aug 2021

Price of US follies

The birth of terror organisations like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda are by-products of America’s ideologically fuelled policies.
18 Aug 2021

Grotesque stunt

EVEN by the standards of the megalomaniacal Narendra Modi, it was an astonishingly ill-timed publicity stunt. A few...
18 Aug 2021

Facilitating SMEs

THE new three-year State Bank refinance scheme — SME Asaan Finance — for providing collateral-free bank loans to...