Pakistan's civilian leadership today endorsed the head of the army after he took the unusual step of criticising the US for launching unilateral attacks on Pakistani soil.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, considered by the US as a pivotal figure in the “war on terror”, said yesterday Pakistan had never agreed to allow the US to operate on Pakistani territory, and that unilateral attacks risked undermining joint efforts against insurgents.
“Falling for short-term gains while ignoring our long-term interest is not the right way forward,” Kayani warned.
Kayani usually keeps a low profile so his open rebuke of the US is likely to make policymakers in Washington sit up and take notice.
Today, Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said Kayani reflected government opinion and policy. Pakistan has been in uproar ever since US special forces carried out an incursion into Pakistani territory last week without telling Islamabad in advance.
The Pakistani government has protested over the ground assault and even summoned the US ambassador. But Kayani's comment will attract particular attention in the US, as he leads Pakistan's most powerful and stable institution.
“[Kayani's statement] expresses a deep concern in Pakistan and was quite timely because of the feeling in Pakistan as if the army and the government of Pakistan has surrendered to whatever Americans want to do in the tribal regions,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political analyst.
Gilani's comments came as the New York Times reported that George Bush has secretly approved orders allowing US special forces to carry ground assaults inside Pakistan without prior Pakistani government approval.
The incursion into Pakistan and a barrage of suspected US missile strikes in Pakistan in recent days suggest growing American impatience with Pakistan's willingness and capacity in taking out militant safe havens in its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
Gordon Brown today said he would hold discussions with Bush on a “new approach” to policing the Afghan-Pakistan border. At his monthly press conference, the prime minister said he and Bush were holding a video conference to assess the work of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.
Brown said a new strategy was needed to halt Taliban fighters criss-crossing the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Brown said he would be meeting Zardari in London soon to discuss authorisation for cross-border raids.
In a speech this week, the US president said Pakistan along with Afghanistan and Iraq was a central battleground in the “war on terror”.
In a barbed message for the new Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, Bush said Pakistan had a “responsibility” to fight extremists “because every nation has an obligation to govern its own territory and make certain that it does not become a safe haven for terror”.
