Pat Dollard

Tweet

Huh?

Umm Yeah.

Looks to me like the US strikes in Pakistan seem to be working just fine….

Sometimes you just have to knock down a few hornet nests, when they start thinking they own your yard.

Daily Times

Friday, September 19, 2008

Unilateral strikes no viable solution, says Negroponte

* US deputy secretary of state says co-operative efforts best way forward
* Hopes stability will follow Pakistan’s political transition

WASHINGTON: Admitting that unilateral action in Pakistani territory is not a viable long-term solution to the security situation along the Pak-Afghan border, United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has said co-operative efforts by the anti-terrorism partners provide the best way forward.

According to a transcript of his briefing in Hong Kong released by the State Department on Thursday, he saw a ‘very important relationship’ between the US and Pakistan with regard to security and stability in the South Asian region and said he hoped for things to stabilise after Pakistan’s political transition.

“I would say, looking to the future what we want to do is work more collaboratively with the government of Pakistan to see what we can do together on a collaborative basis to try and improve the security situation in that border region.” “Unilateral actions are probably not a durable or a viable solution over a prolonged period of time and I think the best way forward for both of our countries is to try to deal with the situation in that border area on a co-operative basis – co-operative both between the United States and Pakistan, but also with the country of Afghanistan. So I would say trilateral cooperation, if you will, is probably the best way forward,” he said.

Negroponte’s remarks on Wednesday came as US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen, on a visit to Islamabad, reiterated that the US respected Pakistan’s sovereignty. A unilateral strike into a part of the tribal areas the same day drew strong criticism from Pakistan. Political transition: In his remarks, Negroponte also said Pakistan was “going through a political transition at the moment which hopefully things will begin to stabilise in that regard going forward, and there have been issues about the degree to which Pakistan has been able or not been able to control … the region bordering on Afghanistan, which of course is not only of importance to the stability of Afghanistan, but also directly relevant to the security of our own forces that operate in Afghanistan.”

The US official claimed the problems in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the border and Afghanistan were interlinked. Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders strongly condemned a US ground incursion into a Pakistani border village in South Waziristan on September 3, saying the raid was a violation of the country’s sovereignty and would prove counter-productive in the fight against terrorism. app
Courtesy DailyTimes