*WASHINGTON: Pakistan need not kill or capture militants such as members ofthe Haqqani network that use its territory to launch attacks in Afghanistanbut could push them across the border instead, a senior U.S. official saidon Friday.*
Evicting the militants would put them at risk of attack from Afghan andU.S. forces trying to keep Afghanistan from becoming a launching pad forstrikes on the West more than 16 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks onNew York and Washington.
The United States is pressuring Pakistan to cease providing sanctuary –which it denies giving – to Islamist militants unleashing chaos inneighboring Afghanistan.
On Jan. 4, Washington said it would suspend some security aid to Islamabadto get it to end support for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqaninetwork whose attacks in Afghanistan have killed U.S., Afghan and otherforces.
The senior U.S. official said in an interview that since the aid suspension– which U.S. officials later said could affect as much as about $2 billion– the United States has not seen any sustained Pakistani effort against themilitants.
In the latest U.S.-led push to spur Pakistani action, a globalmoney-laundering watchdog decided to put the country back on its terroristfinancing watch list, a Pakistani government official and a diplomat toldReuters in Islamabad.
The U.S. official dismissed suggestions pressure from Washington maybackfire and suggested that Pakistan might start by taking smaller,tactical steps, including forcing such groups into Afghanistan before thespring fighting season begins.
“I don’t think Pakistan is feeling its oats. I think it’s feelingpressure,” said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Wehave their attention.”
The official said the United States did not have a specific timeline toassess Pakistani cooperation and would be looking to see if Islamabad wouldtake ”tactical steps“ such as ”actions against … (the) Haqqanis, pushingthem across the border.
“They don’t have to arrest them or kill them … just get them intoAfghanistan, disrupt some of the infrastructure that exists, make it harderfor them,” the official added. “We are about two months away from thefighting season, so now is the time to do some of this.”
Some in the U.S. government doubt Pakistan will comply.
In a Feb. 13 statement to Congress, U.S. Director of National IntelligenceDan Coats said Pakistan would maintain “its ties with militant groups,restricting counter-terrorism cooperation” with the United States. -Agencies