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‘Afghan attacks down after FATA actions’

* Mullen acknowledges tribal engagement has had impact
* ISPR denies Pak-US militaries launching co-ordinated operation

WASHINGTON: The strategy of tribal engagement has great significance in the long-term solution of the Afghan-Pakistan border security challenges, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen has said.

APP reported that the top US military officer acknowledged at a Pentagon briefing that Pakistan’s own anti-terrorism actions, launched in Bajaur under the elected democratic government, have had significant impact on curbing cross-border militancy in that part of the area. “I think the engagement of tribal leaders is very important and – across the board, with respect to Afghanistan. And I think that’s also the case as well in Pakistan, over the long term, in terms of how this challenge that we have, particularly in the – on the border, is eventually resolved.

“And so I think having a strategy which includes tribal engagement is a very important part,” he stated.

He did not touch the issue of unilateral actions in Pakistan in response to reporters’ questions.

“General (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani has a military which has also got an operational tempo challenge, to move his brigades routinely into the FATA. He’s essentially executing a plan that he’s laid out, and I’m very supportive of that, and encouraged but what — by what I see as a result.”

Operation: Meanwhile, AFP reported the US military has launched a co-ordinated operation with Pakistani forces to put pressure on Taliban and Al Qaeda on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border, a US military commander said on Tuesday. Dubbed ‘Operation Lionheart’, the operation takes co-operation between US, Afghan and Pakistani forces to ‘the next level’ in terms of intelligence sharing and co-ordination, Colonel John Spiszer said.

“We are in co-ordination on a daily basis with the Frontier Corps,” said Spiszer, who commands the 1st Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade.

Spiszer said his troops were working along the Kunar River valley and up into the mountain passes along the border to intercept and ambush Taliban trying to escape from Pakistani operations in Bajaur Agency. Reuters reported Spiszer as saying the offensive in Bajaur was pushing Taliban across the border into Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately, or fortunately in some ways, the Pakistan military is doing operations that really ultimately are in some ways designed to drive (militants) out of Pakistan,” Spiszer said. However, according to a private channel, the Pakistan military denied that it was engaged in any joint operation with the US-led coalition forces. agencies/daily times monitor

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