WASHINGTON: The US forces in Afghanistan have no plans to cross theinternational border to take out the Taliban and other militants who fleeto Pakistan after conducting attacks inside the war-torn country, accordingto a top Pentagon official.Afghanistan has witnessed some of the worst terrorist attacks killingscores of people. It has blamed Pakistan-based terror groups such asthe Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban for these attacks.
“To be clear, US military authorities are within the borders of Afghanistanonly. We have no authority to go into Pakistan. If there is a way to getthat authority, but that would certainly be the exception and not the normand would not be,” Lt Col Mike Andrews, a spokesperson of the Department ofDefence, said yesterday after his return from Afghanistan where heaccompanied US Defense link> SecretaryJim Mattis.
“Say, for example, we have troops in contact and then the Taliban militantsgo across the border. They are clearly inside Pakistan then. There’s nochange with regards to respecting the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan.
“If the Taliban reside in Pakistan and we are able to provide safety andsupport and to help secure districts and provinces within the borders ofAfghanistan, 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 aboutthe Afghan people,” Andrews said.
So, looking at the provinces that the Taliban claim or that are contestedwith the Taliban, that’s going to be the focus of the Afghan forces thisyear to get them back, he said, adding that there’s enough work to be doneinside of Afghanistan to reduce the Taliban’s influence, to reduce theirlevel of control, to provide more security and stability to Afghans.
“And what happens in Pakistan, we can’t have any control on that… Nowwe’re going to stay focused on Afghanistan,” he said in response to aquestion.