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| Afghanistan |
| NATO chief says will not hunt Taliban in Pakistan |
| 2008-07-25 |
| NATO will not enter Pakistan to hunt Taliban insurgents, but reserves the right to hit the militants there should they attack alliance troops across the border in Afghanistan, the alliance's chief said on Thursday. NATO says militant attacks along the border in eastern Afghanistan have jumped by 40 percent this year since de-facto ceasefires came into effect between Pakistan's new government and insurgents in the border tribal regions. Afghan officials say the ousted Taliban and al Qaeda have bases in Pakistan's tribal areas and President Hamid Karzai last month said he might send troops there to fight them after a series of high-profile attacks by the militants. Standing alongside Karzai at a Kabul news conference, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was asked if the alliance was considering a wider mandate from the United Nations to go after militant sanctuaries inside Pakistan. "My answer is an unqualified no. We have a United Nations security mandate for Afghanistan and that's it. If NATO forces are shot at from the other side of the border, there is always the right to self-defence but you will not see NATO forces crossing into Pakistan territory," Scheffer replied. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 but you will not see NATO forces crossing into Pakistan territory," Scheffer replied. Heh. Did someone say 'wandering, ghostlike'? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-07-25 22:28 |
| #3 Is NATO's position mandatory for American Special Forces troops already wandering, ghostlike, on the far side of the border? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-07-25 12:43 |
| #2 As long as border = security, there is no way to extermanite these vermin. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to pursue these Bad Boyz to the ends of the earth? |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-07-25 10:37 |
| #1 Hunt = search Killing is not searching. We already know at that point where they are. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-07-25 09:12 |