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| India-Pakistan |
| 'Pakistan will act against Al Qaeda if given actionable intelligence' |
| 2007-08-07 |
| Pakistan Ambassador to United States Mahmood Ali Durrani said on Monday Pakistan would not even hesitate for a moment if actionable and timely intelligence is provided about the presence of Al Qaeda elements on its soil. "We have 85,000 troops in the tribal areas. We will not hesitate for a moment ? if we have actionable, timely intelligence, we will go after them," the ambassador told CNN. To a question, Durrani said Pakistan was committed to going after miscreants, but at the same time "We want to avoid collateral damages because we have to live with these people." He said it was on record that Pakistan had been taking action against miscreants on actionable intelligence, adding that even since signing an agreement with tribal elders, the country had been taking action when it was required to do so. Asked if Al Qaeda elements were re-grouping in the tribal areas, Durrani said, "I disagree with this." He said one of the insurgents security forces held a couple of days ago grew up in Afghanistan. "He had been operating in Helmand for five months, but was not captured in Afghanistan," Durrani added. "We got him in Pakistan. We are going to hit bad guys, there is no doubt, we are doing it and we will continue doing it," he said. He said Pakistan, US and Afghanistan should avoid blaming each other and sit together to seek ways to control and defeat extremism and terrorism. About the statement of US presidential candidate Obama that he would favour US operations in Pakistan if he became president, Durrani said, "I don't think that is a good step. This would not help US objective. We need to fight extremism and terrorism jointly." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 "I'm sorry, but his aunty says he's visiting his cousin in Sheffield and he won't be back until next week. We must, so unfortunately, deny you permission." |
| Posted by: mrp 2007-08-07 20:42 |
| #8 Not much will happen until/if the ISI is cleaned up.And Musharraf is probably more scared of the jihadisymps there than of Al-Qaida or the Taliban. |
| Posted by: charger 2007-08-07 10:26 |
| #7 if we |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-08-07 10:24 |
| #6 "Criminy, Chaudhry, he's in the closet, he's wearing a black nightgown and a pink feather boa, and he's dancing about!" "Nope, sorry, not specific enough. How many feathers on the boa?" |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-08-07 10:06 |
| #5 Glenmore nailed it. The ISI may get rid of a few bit players now and then for show, but they aren't going to let anyone important get whacked. |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-08-07 07:59 |
| #4 Durrani said Pakistan was committed to going after miscreants, Figures - no plan for dealing with brigands & rabblerousers... |
| Posted by: Raj 2007-08-07 07:53 |
| #3 Of course they will act if given actionable intel. That's why we don't give it to them - they'd use it to make sure the terrorists got away safely before the action. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-08-07 07:33 |
| #2 Is he admitting that his own intelligence service is freakin' useless and unable to develop "actionable intelligence" in their own damned country? What a sack. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2007-08-07 01:32 |
| #1 CIA spook: "OK, Chaudhry. There's a high-value AQ in that house right there." ISI spook: "Which room?" "Umm...the back bedroom on the left." "Where in the room?" "He's hiding in the closet." "How can you be sure?" "We have a camera in there. Here's the live-feed video." "I'm sorry. We need more specific information..." |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2007-08-07 01:10 |