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Pakistan fails to pressure Taliban on Afghan border: Gates

By admin | June 27, 2008

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistan’s failure to put pressure on Taliban forces on the country’s border with Afghanistan had fueled a rise in violence, but said Islamabad appeared to recognize the problem.

A 40 percent spike in violence in east Afghanistan in the first five months of 2008 “is a matter of concern, of real concern, and I think that one of the reasons that we’re seeing the increase … is more people coming across the border from the frontier area,” Gates told a news conference.

He said “the ability of the Taliban and other insurgents to cross that border and not being under any pressure from the Pakistani side of the border is clearly a concern.”

Gates said the issue “needs to be addressed with the Pakistani government” that came to power after February 18 elections won by parties opposed to US ally President Pervez Musharraf.

He said cross-border infiltration and violence had increased in the past few months after peace deals were negotiated with Taliban elements and other militants.

“What has happened is that as various agreements have been negotiated or were in the process of negotiation with various groups by the Pakistani government, there was the opportunity — the pressure was taken off of these people and these groups.

“And they’ve therefore been more free to be able to cross the border and create problems for us.”

But he said he was encouraged by the response from Islamabad to the problem, citing a statement by the prime minister that the government plans to “reassert its control and authority in the northwest frontier province.”

“The fact that the Pakistani government itself has recognized that this is a problem and that these groups’ activities are a problem for the Pakistani government as well as for those of us in Afghanistan, I think is a heartening sign.”

He added: “And my hope is that the prime minister’s statement today indicates a willingness to reassert that pressure.”

Gates spoke amid growing unease in Washington and Kabul over Pakistan’s efforts to broker deals with Taliban militants, which President George W. Bush’s administration fears could give the insurgents a chance to regroup.

Pakistan has denied charges from US and Afghan officials that it is turning a blind eye to Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces based in restive tribal zones, saying it faces a porous border and that security forces have had bloody clashes with militants.

Relations between the United States and Islamabad have been strained since a US air raid in Pakistan on June 11. Washington said it was targeting militants but Pakistan said 11 of its soldiers were killed.

Pakistan meanwhile on Thursday rejected accusations from Kabul that its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was behind an assassination attempt against Afghan President Hamid Karzai in April.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan over its support for the Al-Qaeda network.

Violence in the region has steadily increased in the past two years despite the presence of some 70,000 multinational troops in Afghanistan, including soldiers under US command and others under NATO’s authority.

The US-led coalition on Thursday reported more violence, with an attack on a patrol near the Afghan capital killing three more soldiers in the coalition and a local interpreter. The nationality of the casualties was not revealed.

June has been a deadly month for foreign soldiers, with four others killed in the past few days. At least 39 of the 106 soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year died since the beginning of this month, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Gates said he was encouraged by commitments from NATO allies to deploy more troops to Afghanistan and he recalled the United States has plans to send reinforcements in 2009.

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