Pakistan not keen on Haqqani crackdown

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The Pakistani military is not ready to meet a U.S. demand that it go after Afghan Taliban leader Siraj Haqqani, officials said.

U.S. officials see Haqqani as a major threat to U.S. forces in Afghanistan and believe he uses Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area across the border as a sanctuary, The New York Times reported. Quoting Pakistani military officials and diplomats, the newspaper reported Pakistani leaders, while privately irked by U.S. demands, have publicly indicated the military doesn't have the resources to deal with the matter because it is involved in major offensives in South Waziristan and elsewhere.

The report said the U.S. demands regarding Haqqani began prior to President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and have since been repeated several times. The demands also have called for the elimination of the Taliban leadership based in Pakistan's Quetta city, with indications that if Pakistan cannot act there might be more drone strikes in Pakistan, the report said.

"It is really beginning to irk and anger us," a security official identified as being familiar with the deliberations told the Times.

The report said the reason for Pakistan's calculation is a lack of faith in Obama's troops surge and a need to position itself in any regional adjustment that might start once the Americans begin to withdraw from Afghanistan. In such a situation, Haqqani and his fighters, who control large areas of Afghanistan, would be critical for Pakistan as it would also involve its main rival India as well as Russia, China and Iran.

"If America walks away, Pakistan is very worried that it will have India on its eastern border and India on its western border in Afghanistan," Pakistan ambassador to the United States Tariq Fatemi said.