US ground operation: Pakistan will not allow incursions in tribal areas, says FO

Spokesperson says Nato’s mandate is restricted to Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not allow any ground operation by the US troops in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, said the Foreign Office spokesperson after media reports that the Obama administration plans to expand its campaign.

“The United States knows our red lines on the issue,” Abdul Basit told reporters on Thursday, at the weekly news briefing.

The New York Times had reported on Tuesday that the Obama administration, increasingly frustrated over the lack of action by Pakistan against certain militant groups in the tribal belt, is close to approving a major expansion of Special Operations ground raids into the country’s lawless region.

However, the spokesperson warned against any such plans, saying the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) forces’ mandate was restricted to Afghanistan.

“Pakistan does not expect the United States to complicate matters involving counter-terrorism,” Basit said. He said that Pakistan is committed to fighting against terrorism and its security forces are capable of taking action against the militant group.

But the Obama administration often suspects Pakistan’s role.

In the year-long review of Afghanistan, the US concludes Pakistan is not doing enough to eliminate ‘terrorist safe heavens’ in the tribal belt.

The mistrust between the two countries can be reflected in the US policy of using unmanned predators to take out what they call “high value” targets from the tribal areas. In recent weeks, the Obama administration has accelerated drone strikes. Last week, a drone strike targeted Khyber Agency, in what was said to be the first attack in the area.

And now there have been calls in certain US quarters to send ground troops on Pakistan’s soil to eliminate the insurgents.

Analysts believe Pakistan might have a tacit understanding with the US on the drone attacks, but it does not necessarily mean Islamabad can afford allowing ground operation by foreign troops.

Any such move will have far-reaching repercussions both for the US campaign against extremism and for the government, they caution.

The New York Times acknowledged that the US operation “would amount to the opening of a new front in the nine-year-old war, which has grown increasingly unpopular among Americans.”

The US also maintains that Taliban and other insurgent forces use the region, in particular, North Waziristan, as a staging area for attacks on the Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan.

However, Basit said Pakistani troops are already there in North Waziristan, believed to be the headquarters of the Haqqani-Network. “Security forces have been carrying out operations wherever required,” he said, adding that the scope and timing of the operation in North Waziristan will be determined by Pakistan alone.

The spokesperson rejected as ‘uncalled for’ the US concerns on the civilian nuclear cooperation between Pakistan and China.

“Our cooperation is for peaceful purposes, in accordance with our international obligations and under IEAE safeguards. So any reservation or objection to this cooperation is unwarranted,” Basit said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.