Americas

Home page

Americas

U.S. calls Pakistan to move against Afghan Taliban

21 January 2010 23:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“APA. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Pakistani leaders on Thursday to urge them to begin hunting down Afghan Taliban on their border, but signaled the United States would not push the pace of operations, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

Pakistan ruled out a new offensive against militants soon, saying it had to consolidate gains against its home-grown Pakistani Taliban, fighting to bring down the government. Islamabad has mounted big offensives against Pakistani Taliban factions, but has resisted U.S. pressure to go after Afghan Taliban in border enclaves who do not strike in Pakistan but cross the border to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Gates, on his first trip to Pakistan since U.S. President Barack Obama took office last year, is visiting after a period of tense relations marked by suspicion on both sides. "We are not attempting to push them to pursue this any faster than they are comfortable doing, and that they are capable of doing," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

Analysts say Pakistan sees the Afghan Taliban as tools to counter the growing influence of old rival India in Afghanistan and as potential allies in Afghanistan if U.S. forces withdraw and, as many Pakistanis fear, leave the country in chaos.

Gates said in a commentary in a Pakistani newspaper that making a distinction between Pakistani Taliban and their Afghan allies was counterproductive and all factions had to be tackled.

Pakistan and the United States have long been allies but ties have been strained by U.S. calls for Pakistan to do more to stop militants crossing from its lawless ethnic Pashtun borderlands to fight in Afghanistan.