Pakistan has deployed more troops on the eastern border with India, saying the heightened tension with the neighbouring country has affected its efforts against the Taliban and other extremist organisations on the western border.
Confirming the report about reinforcement of troops on the Indian border, Pakistans High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said that India had increased pressure on the border by building several new military cantonments close to the sensitive frontier, and Islamabad can not remain subservient to the move.
The government has had to send some troops down there because we don''t want to leave ourselves exposed. This is taking away from our defence capabilities on the Afghan border. We really wish the international community would intervene, but nobody has said anything to the Indians, The Financial Times quoted Hasan, as saying.
Experts and diplomats, however, have described the troops reinforcement as more of a political and diplomatic move rather than a strategic one.
Every time Pakistan has to defend itself on criticism for gaps in its campaign, they bring up India. The campaigns in Waziristan cannot be expanded because of India, for example, is one issue, the newspaper quoted a western diplomat, who is based in Islamabad, as saying.
Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the recent arrests of top Taliban leaders in Pakistan, including the Afghan Talibans second in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was primarily motivated by wanting to dent the negotiations between Kabul and the international community and the Taliban.
Pakistan is motivated by the conviction that India, not the Afghan Taliban, is the main enemy to be neutralised in the Afghan endgame, Tellis said.
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri also admitted that despite calls from the international community to reduce tension, Islamabad would continue to prioritise its eastern border to protect itself against a rival with which it had fought three major wars and two minor ones.
We have enough problems of our own on our eastern border. We are concerned about India. Resolve the problems with India and then our security orientation could change, Kasuri said.
Pak boosts troops on Indian border to mask Taliban failure
Nobody said anything to Indians: Pak
fullstory
Confirming the report about reinforcement of troops on the Indian border, Pakistans High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said that India had increased pressure on the border by building several new military cantonments close to the sensitive frontier, and Islamabad can not remain subservient to the move.
The government has had to send some troops down there because we don''t want to leave ourselves exposed. This is taking away from our defence capabilities on the Afghan border. We really wish the international community would intervene, but nobody has said anything to the Indians, The Financial Times quoted Hasan, as saying.
Experts and diplomats, however, have described the troops reinforcement as more of a political and diplomatic move rather than a strategic one.
Every time Pakistan has to defend itself on criticism for gaps in its campaign, they bring up India. The campaigns in Waziristan cannot be expanded because of India, for example, is one issue, the newspaper quoted a western diplomat, who is based in Islamabad, as saying.
Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the recent arrests of top Taliban leaders in Pakistan, including the Afghan Talibans second in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was primarily motivated by wanting to dent the negotiations between Kabul and the international community and the Taliban.
Pakistan is motivated by the conviction that India, not the Afghan Taliban, is the main enemy to be neutralised in the Afghan endgame, Tellis said.
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri also admitted that despite calls from the international community to reduce tension, Islamabad would continue to prioritise its eastern border to protect itself against a rival with which it had fought three major wars and two minor ones.
We have enough problems of our own on our eastern border. We are concerned about India. Resolve the problems with India and then our security orientation could change, Kasuri said.
Pak boosts troops on Indian border to mask Taliban failure
Nobody said anything to Indians: Pak
fullstory
