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Pakistan: No Qaeda safe havens
06/08/2007 15:49 - (SA)
Islamabad - Pakistan denied on Monday al-Qaeda or the Taliban have safe havens in its territory, and said new laws tying US aid to Islamabad's performance in fighting militants threatens to harm security co-operation between the two countries.
Pakistani officials have grown increasingly annoyed at a wave of recent criticism from Washington and US presidential candidates that has centred around the assertion that al-Qaeda has regrouped in the tribal regions along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
"There is no al-Qaeda or Taliban safe haven in Pakistan," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly briefing.
Aslam also reiterated Pakistan's criticism of a bill signed by US President George W Bush on Friday that requires the president to confirm that Pakistan is making progress in combating al-Qaeda and Taliban inside its territory before the United States provides aid to the Muslim nation.
Putting such conditions on aid "is in no way conducive to the promotion of a healthy relationship" between Pakistan and the United States, Aslam said.
Ensuring peace
"If assistance is curtailed it would surely damage the kind of relationship that our two countries desire to build," she said, adding that Pakistan-US co-operation was in the interest of ensuring regional and global peace and security.
Pakistan has received billions in US aid since joining it in the war on terror in late 2001 and has deployed about 90 000 troops to the border region near Afghanistan.
But the US has strongly criticised a September 2006 peace deal with pro-Taliban militants that reduced the Pakistan army's presence in restive North Waziristan.
The US National Intelligence Estimate last month indicated that al-Qaeda may be regrouping in the region because the peace deal allowed more freedom for militants to operate.
While reiterating support for President General Pervez Musharraf as an anti-terror ally, Bush administration officials have not ruled out US military strikes in Pakistan against al-Qaeda.
'Take action'
US presidential hopefuls, including Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Rudy Giuliani, have made similar comments - angering Pakistan, which is protective of its sovereignty.
"Our position is that if there are any terrorist elements hiding in our tribal areas it is for the security forces of Pakistan to take action against these elements," Aslam said.
Pakistan has recently stepped up its military presence in the frontier region, prompting reprisals from pro-Taliban militants. Over the weekend, a bombing at a bus station and fighting left at least 24 people dead.
- AP
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