US helicopters operating in Afghanistan intrude into Pakistan

[A.Rahman]

US helicopters operating in Afghanistan intrude into Pakistan

Islamabad - Six US military helicopters intruded into Pakistan airspace on Tuesday while operating against militants in eastern Afghanistan, the newspaper Dawn reported Wednesday.

It quoted unidentified officials and locals as saying the helicopter gunships appeared over Lawara Mandi area of the North Waziristan tribal region following an attack on US-led coalition forces in Pipali area across the border in Afghanistan.

Neither the US forces nor the Pakistani border forces took any action during the intrusions, the sources said.

Senior Pakistani military officers later flew to the area to assess the situation, according to the newspaper.

source: M&C

 

[A.Rahman]

Bush would send troops inside Pakistan to catch bin Laden

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday he would order U.S. forces to go after Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan if he received good intelligence on the fugitive al Qaeda leader's location.

"Absolutely," Bush told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview scheduled for air Wednesday afternoon.

Although Pakistan has said it won't allow U.S. troops to operate within its territory, "we would take the action necessary to bring him to justice."

But Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, told reporters Wednesday at the United Nations that his government would oppose any U.S. action in its territory.

"We wouldn't like to allow that at all. We will do it ourselves," he said.

A January airstrike on suspected al Qaeda figures on the Pakistan border provoked protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis and complaints by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who said U.S. officials launched the attack without consulting his government.

Bin Laden's followers killed nearly 3,000 Americans in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. In response, the United States and its allies overthrew Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, which had allowed al Qaeda to operate within its territory -- but bin Laden slipped the U.S. noose and is believed by many to be hiding in the rugged mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border five years later.

Pakistani authorities recently signed a peace agreement with pro-Taliban tribal leaders in the country's restive northwest after two years of clashes with the traditionally autonomous tribes that left more than 600 Pakistani troops dead. But Aziz told CNN earlier this month that top terrorist leaders like bin Laden would have "no immunity" under the agreement.

"This notion that anybody who has a record as a terrorist will get safe haven -- we would not even think of doing that," he said.

U.S. and NATO troops are now battling a Taliban resurgence in southeastern Afghanistan, and both Afghan and Pakistani officials have accused each other of not doing enough to capture pro-Taliban militants sneaking across the border.