Pakistan has rejected reports it had withdrawn troops from a tribal area near the border with Afghanistan suspected to be a hideout for Al Qaeda leaders, the US State Department said on Monday. "Pakistani officials, both publicly and privately to us, have made clear that there has been no withdrawal from Waziristan and that they remain fully committed to continuing the campaign against Al Qaeda and its supporters," department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
| "They're just, er...tuning the drums. Just a bit of a tweak, really. Back any day now, see." |
According to a Pakistani military spokesman at the weekend, soldiers have been withdrawn from the streets of the main town in the troubled South Waziristan district after months of bloody offensives against Al Qaeda-linked militants. "Our understanding of the situation with regard to the forces in Waziristan is it's not a change of attitude or inclination or activity on the part of the Pakistanis," Mr Boucher said. "We've seen the reports, but we've talked to the Pakistani officials about them, and they have told us that they maintain their commitment to fighting terror and they intend to do that on the ground as well," he said. Military checkpoints in Wana, were handed over to police after tribesmen pledged their territory would not be used for violence, Pakistan's military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan had said. But soldiers are still hunting insurgents in the rest of the tense region and the military said the scaling-down in Wana was largely a symbolic move to reward one of the area's two dominant tribes, the Wazir, for their help. |