NEW DELHI : Former head of Coalition forces in Afghanistan and former CIADirecto General Rtd General David Petraeus has said that Pakistan haslegitimate concerns about some of their enemies having safe havens ineastern Afghanistan.
General Petraeus, who recently visited India, in an interview with IndianExpress said the anti Pakistani Taliban are in very rugged parts whichAfghan security forces can’t control. However he said there needs to be acoordinated effort and a seriousness of reeling in these groups onPakistani soil, rather than tolerate, on in some cases, may be as isalleged supporting them in some fashion.
Asked to comment on President Trump’s tweet on Pakistan, General DavidPetraeus said it represented an accumulation of frustration, and probablynot just with his administration but building on the accumulation ofprevious administrations where many of us were trying very hard to,frankly, to help our Pakistani partners, as they were combating the TTP(Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), dealing with some of the other extremistsinside their country that many of us believe represent the most significantexistential threat to Pakistan.
He said there has not been the kind of action we had all hoped to be takento reduce, to eliminate the sanctuaries from which the forces that arecausing such problems in Afghanistan are being organised, led, commandedand also provisioned and taken care of from time to time.
Orignally published by INP