WASHINGTON: The US forces in Afghanistan have no plans to go the international border to take out the Taliban and other militants who flee to Pakistan after accomplishing attacks within the war-torn country, in keeping with a most sensible Pentagon authentic.
Afghanistan has witnessed one of the vital worst terrorist attacks killing ratings of people. It has blamed Pakistan-based terror teams such as the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban for those attacks.
"To be clear, US military authorities are within the borders of Afghanistan only. We have no authority to go into Pakistan. If there is a way to get that authority, but that would certainly be the exception and not the norm and would not be," Lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence, said the day prior to this after his return from Afghanistan where he accompanied US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
"Say, for example, we have troops in contact and then the Taliban militants go across the border. They are clearly inside Pakistan then. There's no change with regards to respecting the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan."
He reiterated they would not be going into Pakistan. "Like I said there, there could be exceptions to that, but it is not going to be a normal day to day operational rules of engagement that our commanders on the ground know," he added.
"If the Taliban reside in Pakistan and we are able to provide safety and support and to help secure districts and provinces within the borders of Afghanistan, I think that that is a tradeoff that we're willing to make. Because it's not necessarily about these people over in Pakistan, its about the Afghan people," Andrews said.
So, having a look on the provinces that the Taliban claim or that are contested with the Taliban, that's going to be the focus of the Afghan forces this yr to get them back, he said, including that there's enough work to be achieved inside of Afghanistan to scale back the Taliban's influence, to scale back their level of keep watch over, to provide more security and steadiness to Afghans.
"And what happens in Pakistan, we can't have any control on that... Now we're going to stay focused on Afghanistan," he said based on a question.
It is the expectation of the United States, he said, that Pakistan takes steps to be sure that there are not any sanctuaries where the Taliban or other terrorist organisations can live and where they suspect that they're safe from the United States.
Afghanistan has witnessed one of the vital worst terrorist attacks killing ratings of people. It has blamed Pakistan-based terror teams such as the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban for those attacks.
"To be clear, US military authorities are within the borders of Afghanistan only. We have no authority to go into Pakistan. If there is a way to get that authority, but that would certainly be the exception and not the norm and would not be," Lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department of Defence, said the day prior to this after his return from Afghanistan where he accompanied US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
"Say, for example, we have troops in contact and then the Taliban militants go across the border. They are clearly inside Pakistan then. There's no change with regards to respecting the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan."
He reiterated they would not be going into Pakistan. "Like I said there, there could be exceptions to that, but it is not going to be a normal day to day operational rules of engagement that our commanders on the ground know," he added.
"If the Taliban reside in Pakistan and we are able to provide safety and support and to help secure districts and provinces within the borders of Afghanistan, I think that that is a tradeoff that we're willing to make. Because it's not necessarily about these people over in Pakistan, its about the Afghan people," Andrews said.
So, having a look on the provinces that the Taliban claim or that are contested with the Taliban, that's going to be the focus of the Afghan forces this yr to get them back, he said, including that there's enough work to be achieved inside of Afghanistan to scale back the Taliban's influence, to scale back their level of keep watch over, to provide more security and steadiness to Afghans.
"And what happens in Pakistan, we can't have any control on that... Now we're going to stay focused on Afghanistan," he said based on a question.
It is the expectation of the United States, he said, that Pakistan takes steps to be sure that there are not any sanctuaries where the Taliban or other terrorist organisations can live and where they suspect that they're safe from the United States.
US rules out hot pursuit of militants who flee to Pakistan
![US rules out hot pursuit of militants who flee to Pakistan]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
March 21, 2018
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