Pakistan threatens to withdraw troops from Pak-Afghan border

[VelocuR]

Pakistan threatens to withdraw troops from Pak-Afghan border

Mukhtar says that US aid money meant to reimburse costs incurred in stationing army in Pak-Afghan border areas, not to fight war on terror.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar threatened to withdraw Pakistani troops from the Pak-Afghan border in reaction to the suspension of nearly $800 million worth of US military aid.

In an exclusive interview with Express 24/7′ special correspondent Kirsten Seymour in Islamabad on Monday, he said that Pakistan would pull back troops from the nearly 1100 check posts set up along the Pak-Afghan border if the US does not resume Pakistan’s military aid. A move that would sabotage efforts against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the region.

He said “this money (US military aid) is not for fighting the war, but its the money that we have spent already.”

Asked about what will Pakistan’s reaction be, he said that Pakistan could not afford to keep its military out in the mountains for a long period of time. “The next step would be that the government or the armed forces will remove the forces from the border areas,” he said

Shamsi Airbase for logistical use only

The defence minister went on to say that the US, by way of UAE had been allowed the use of the Shamsi air strip for unarmed drones and as a logistics support site.

“The understanding was that the drones would fly from Shamsi base but only for logistics purposes . . . they were not supposed to be carrying guns . . . when you see people being killed, there are definitely missiles coming down from these drones,” he said.

However Mukhtar maintained that this was a problem that could be resolved if both, the US and Pakistan came to some “arrangement” over this issue.



A bit tis tat with US.

 

[VelocuR]

Pakistan defiant as US halts $800 million military aid

Pakistan army telling the world it can stand on it's own feet without any external help of any kind from anyone.


ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military on Monday insisted it was capable of fighting Islamic militants without US assistance, hitting back after Washington said it would suspend $800 million worth of security aid.

“The army in the past as well as at present has conducted successful military operations using its own resources without any external support whatsoever,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, William Daley, confirmed in a television interview on Sunday that the United States has decided to withhold almost a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad.

Abbas, however, said the military had not been officially informed of the decision to suspend aid.

Relations between the key allies in the war on Al-Qaeda drastically worsened after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, humiliating the Pakistani military and opening it to allegations of complicity or incompetence.

Abbas referred AFP to an extraordinary statement issued by army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani on June 9 as part of the bin Laden fallout which recommended that US military aid be redirected towards civilians.

The US aid freeze was welcomed by Pakistan’s neighbour and rival India.

“It is not desirable that this region had to be heavily armed by the US,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said, according to the PTI news agency, adding that the spending would upset the regional power balance.


The US administration on Monday, meanwhile, reiterated the reasons for its decision.

“When it comes to our military assistance, we’re not prepared to continue providing that at the pace that we were providing it unless and until we see certain steps taken,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Islamabad’s demand that about 100 US advisers leave Pakistani soil, effectively halting military training, was a bar to the prospect of improving “our cooperation in counterterrorism, in counterinsurgency,” she added.

“We obviously can’t do that in an environment where Pakistan has asked our trainers to go,” Nuland told reporters.

The suspended aid includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, according to The New York Times.

Pakistan says it has 140,000 soldiers in the northwest, more than the 99,000 American troops in Afghanistan, fighting a local Taliban insurgency.

The United States has long called on Pakistan to do more to crack down on militants, such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, who use its soil to attack within Afghanistan, but the army says its troops are too over-stretched.

But the relationship is complicated as the US uses Pakistan as a sea port and land corridor to truck about 50 percent of its military supplies into Afghanistan, although Taliban and other militants routinely attack the convoys.

Ties between the US and Pakistan are now at their lowest point since Islamabad officially broke with the Taliban and sided with Washington after the 9/11 attacks, analysts said.

One Western security official in Islamabad told AFP that bin Laden’s killing had hardened America’s approach to Pakistan, but the underlying difference was that the so-called allies cannot agree who or what the enemy really is.

“They don’t have the same enemy and so relations will only continue along this chaotic path,” the official said.

Analyst Rasul Baksh Raees acknowledged the deep antipathy to America that is prevalent in Pakistan, but added: “I think Pakistan and the United States will come to some kind of understanding soon to sort out irritants.”

In Washington, Islamabad’s ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said civilian aid continued to flow and that “so far all suggestions for an aid cut-off for Pakistan have been defeated” as the US Congress looks at funding for next year.

On the ground Monday, two missiles fired from a US drone hit a compound in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt on the Afghan border, killing at least 10 militants, local security officials said.

The missile strikes are hugely unpopular among a Pakistani public deeply opposed to the government’s alliance with Washington and sensitive to perceived violations of sovereignty.

 

[Abhishek_]

so essentially you're ready to provide a free pass to the militants who will further wreak havoc within Pakistan.
Suicidal tendencies, is what comes to mind.

 

[AUz]

Why withdraw troops? Just make Kabul boil by using ISI.

 

[Safriz]

so essentially you're ready to provide a free pass to the militants who will further wreak havoc within Pakistan.
Suicidal tendencies, is what comes to mind.

agreed on that.....leaving the western border unattended will be a huge mistake....

 

[VelocuR]

According to Pakistan polls,

Is the suspension of US military aid to Pakistan a positive or negative development?

Positive (71%, 145 Votes)
Negative (29%, 60 Votes)

Total Voters: 205

 

[Vassnti]

Pakistan threatens to withdraw troops from Pak-Afghan border


In an exclusive interview with Express 24/7′ special correspondent Kirsten Seymour in Islamabad on Monday, he said that Pakistan would pull back troops from the nearly 1100 check posts set up along the Pak-Afghan border if the US does not resume Pakistan’s military aid.

A true wtf moment, its Pakistans border. We are told terrorists are coming across it killing inocent Pakistanis even with those 1100 check points. Mukhtars solution for a spat with the US is abandon the border and let every loony jihadist in Afghanistan free rein in Pakistan?

 

[TheJewverine]

The United States was able to slip 4 helicopters, loaded with personnel, equipment and cargo, all the way through Pakistan without being detected by even one Pakistani military installation. Hell, the spot where they landed the helicopters was right next to a military base. It would be a stupid move to remove soldiers guarding Pakistan's borders, when it has already been proven that their current defense systems are inadequate to keep out intruders. The only thing I can think of is that they lack the funding necessary pay for troops to guard the border. It obviously is not a strategic decision, that much you can be sure of.

 

[muse]

How do you like those F16's now? Once again, Pakistanis once half way into quicksand after taking US direction find they have no one to rely on except itself -- and of course since the Pakistan armed forces engender zero confidence in all, supposed allies and her own populations included, it is no surprise that the Pakistan armed forces have responded with panic. And if now they capitulate to the US, the Pakistan armed forces will have made themselves even more a candidate for an overhaul that should see the makeup, training, organization and ethic of the Pakistan armed forces "reconstructed", a welcome outcome, no doubt.

 

[Juice]

I'm so mad I'm gonna burn my own house down!<==Pakistani strategic "thinking"

 

[VelocuR]

A true wtf moment, its Pakistans border. We are told terrorists are coming across it killing inocent Pakistanis even with those 1100 check points. Mukhtars solution for a spat with the US is abandon the border and let every loony jihadist in Afghanistan free rein in Pakistan?

The suspended aid includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, according to The New York Times.

Pakistan says it has 140,000 soldiers in the northwest, more than the 99,000 American troops in Afghanistan, fighting a local Taliban insurgency.

Good deal, it is not free lunch, pay more or shut up at US.

 

[VelocuR]

Pakistan military, in show of defiance, says it can fight without US financial aid

Soldiers prepare to fire from tanks towards targets from their base camp in Tora Warai, a town in Kurram Agency, during a military trip organised for media along the Pakistan Afghanistan border.

The Pakistani military said on Monday it was capable of fighting without American assistance, adding that it had not been informed officially of a US decision to suspend $800 million worth of aid.

&#8220;The army in the past as well as at present has conducted successful military operations using its own resources without any external support whatsoever,&#8221; military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told AFP.

&#8220;We have not received any official intimation or correspondence on the matter,&#8221; the general wrote.

US President Barack Obama&#8217;s chief of staff, William Daley, confirmed in a television interview on Sunday that the United States has decided to withhold almost a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad.

Relations between the key allies in the war on Al Qaeda drastically worsened after US commandos killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in Pakistan, humiliating the Pakistani military and opening it to allegations of complicity or incompetency.

The suspended aid includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, according to The New York Times.

Pakistan says it has 140,000 soldiers in the northwest, more than the 99,000 American troops in Afghanistan, fighting a local Taliban insurgency.

The United States has long called on Pakistan to do more to crack down on militants, such as the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, who use its terriroty to attack within Afghanistan, but the army says its troops are overstretched.

Islamabad was a key ally of the Taliban regime in Kabul from 1996 until siding with the US in the war against Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

 

[Juice]

The suspended aid includes about $300 million to reimburse Pakistan for some of the costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border, according to The New York Times.

Pakistan says it has 140,000 soldiers in the northwest, more than the 99,000 American troops in Afghanistan, fighting a local Taliban insurgency.

Good deal, it is not free lunch, pay more or shut up at US.

We have to pay you to control your own territory? Lol, and you all complain about violated soveriegnty. You have none.

 

[Rafi]

This is all PR - phony indignation from both sides, hilarious

 

[VelocuR]

We have to pay you to control your own territory? Lol, and you all complain about violated soveriegnty. You have none.

Don't you know, we are doing for your interests or say US's favor interests. It is your top prority to control Talibans or Al Qaeda flowing to Pakistan. Please do more, orange Juice. Thanks!