Zardari seeks drone technology: Pakistan to take Taliban war into Tribal Areas
Monday, May 18, 2009
Daily Times Monitor
Monday, May 18, 2009
LAHORE: Pakistan will soon extend its war on the Taliban to the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, President Asif Zardari said on Sunday.
“We’re going to go into Waziristan, all these regions, with army operations,” he told The Sunday Times in an interview. “Swat is just the start. [There’s] a larger war to fight.”
He said Pakistan would need billions of pounds in military assistance and aid for up to 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), on account of the operation.
“We need much, much more than the $1 billion [military aid] we’ve been getting, which is nothing,” Zardari said. “We’ve got 150,000 troops in [the Tribal Areas] – just the movement of that number would cost $1 billion,” he added.
Zardari may get the cash but the US administration is less likely to accede to his wish of being given US drones, claimed a Times report.
“I want drones,” Zardari had said. “I want transfer of technology so I can manufacture them at home and use them myself.”
Last week, for the first time, the US shared surveillance data collected by drones with Pakistan.
Referring to his recent visit to Libya, the US, Britain and France, Zardari shrugged off all suggestions that he has abandoned his country in its darkest hour. “This is not just Pakistan’s problem,” he said, “It’s the world’s problem”.
Sufi’s exposure: Zardari still insists the peace deal under which the Taliban were to administer Swat and six other districts, in return for laying down their arms, was the right move. “It was a good thing, because it exposed Sufi Muhammad for what he was,” he said.
To take on the Taliban, Pakistan Army is for the first time accepting counter-insurgency training on its own soil from British and US troops.
Senior US officials told The Wall Street Journal that 25 to 50 special forces personnel are to be based at two new training camps in Balochistan. The army is planning to open new fronts in Waziristan and Darra Adam Khel.
Monday, May 18, 2009
LAHORE: Pakistan will soon extend its war on the Taliban to the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, President Asif Zardari said on Sunday.
“We’re going to go into Waziristan, all these regions, with army operations,” he told The Sunday Times in an interview. “Swat is just the start. [There’s] a larger war to fight.”
He said Pakistan would need billions of pounds in military assistance and aid for up to 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), on account of the operation.
“We need much, much more than the $1 billion [military aid] we’ve been getting, which is nothing,” Zardari said. “We’ve got 150,000 troops in [the Tribal Areas] – just the movement of that number would cost $1 billion,” he added.
Zardari may get the cash but the US administration is less likely to accede to his wish of being given US drones, claimed a Times report.
“I want drones,” Zardari had said. “I want transfer of technology so I can manufacture them at home and use them myself.”
Last week, for the first time, the US shared surveillance data collected by drones with Pakistan.
Referring to his recent visit to Libya, the US, Britain and France, Zardari shrugged off all suggestions that he has abandoned his country in its darkest hour. “This is not just Pakistan’s problem,” he said, “It’s the world’s problem”.
Sufi’s exposure: Zardari still insists the peace deal under which the Taliban were to administer Swat and six other districts, in return for laying down their arms, was the right move. “It was a good thing, because it exposed Sufi Muhammad for what he was,” he said.
To take on the Taliban, Pakistan Army is for the first time accepting counter-insurgency training on its own soil from British and US troops.
Senior US officials told The Wall Street Journal that 25 to 50 special forces personnel are to be based at two new training camps in Balochistan. The army is planning to open new fronts in Waziristan and Darra Adam Khel.
Labels: Pakistan Army Operation, Swat Operation, Taliban, Terrorism, Tribal Areas, Zardari
posted @ 12:38 PM,
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