Pakistan fears 'fallout' from Afghan plans

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- There must be no backlash for Pakistan in the U.S. ambitions to ramp up its military engagement in Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign minister said.

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled his revised plans for the war in Afghanistan in a prime-time speech Tuesday. Washington in the prelude to the revision had looked to Pakistan as a key partner in its regional effort as top al-Qaida and Taliban commanders are presumed to be in the tribal regions along the Afghan border.

"I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the U.S. president said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a statement following the Afghan speech that he welcomed U.S. ambitions so long as there was no fallout for his country.

"Pakistan looks forward to engaging closely with U.S. in understanding the full import of the new strategy and to ensure that there would be no adverse fallout on Pakistan," the minister said in a statement.

Islamabad in October launched a major military offensive against militants in the tribal regions.

The comments were met Wednesday with a suicide attack on the naval headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.

Police officials believe the bomber was a teenage boy wearing a suicide vest. One naval official was killed in the attack.