100,000 rounds of ammunition...
US denies giving combat assistance to Pakistan
TAMPA: Top US commander David Petraeus has denied that the US is providing direct combat assistance to Pakistan in its fight against militants.
We are not the source of it, this is a Pakistani operation, he said on Wednesday, as he listed US financial and material assistance.
Some 100,000 rounds of ammunition and four MI-17 cargo helicopters had been delivered, while more than $400 million in US aid was sent to help the millions of refugees displaced by fighting in the Swat valley. Some $447 million in direct US military assistance has also been pledged to Islamabad.
But, according to Gen Petraeus, none of this is direct support in combat. The battle on Pakistani soil is their fight against extremism that they assess poses a threat against their very existence, he said. Its not them fighting our global war on terror.
Gen Petraeus said he approved of Pakistans offensive against the Taliban. US forces in Afghanistan could expect tough fight with militants in coming months that would extend beyond this year, he said.
As US troops in the war-torn country get on the offensive to take back from the Taliban areas that they have been able to control, there will be tough fighting, the general said at a meeting with French journalists at the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Certainly that tough fighting will not be concluded just this year. Certainly there will be tough periods beyond this year, he added.
Gen Petraeus said he was always reluctant to attempt definite predictions on how long various missions will take, because the enemy gets a vote.
The Taliban-led insurgency is now at its bloodiest level since 2001, raising concern about new violence in the face of US troop reinforcements and ahead of presidential elections planned for August.
Gen Petraeus, who oversaw the troop surge in Iraq credited with significantly reducing violence there, said it was neither desirable nor possible to replicate such a strategy in Afghanistan.
You cant in Afghanistan live among the people the way we were able to live among the people in Iraq, he noted. They dont want you, in this culture, the way people would welcome us in Iraq.AFP