PAKISTAN > Defense Minister Says Pakistan May Withdraw Troops From Restive Border Areas

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

By Sara Sorcher

National Journal

photo courtesy of defence.pk

WASHINGTON -- Pakistan may withdraw thousands of troops stationed within its lawless border areas -- traditional safe havens to extremists -- just days after the U.S. said it would suspend some military aid to Islamabad, the Washington Post reported. The move, sure to inflame tensions with the U.S., comes just before Islamabad’s top spy chief is due to arrive in Washington for unscheduled talks (see GSN, July 12).

Pakistani Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said on a private Pakistani television station Tuesday that Islamabad “cannot afford to keep our military out in the mountains for such a long period of time,” according to the Post. Mukhtar’s comments appeared to differ from a statement made Tuesday by top Pakistani military officials pledging for operations to continue even with lessened U.S. funding.

The chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, is headed for Washington on Wednesday to “coordinate intelligence matters,” the military said in a one-line statement, according toReuters.

Since the U.S. killed Osama bin Laden in a garrison town not far from Islamabad in May, many members of Congress from both parties have been calling for the United States to cut back or eliminate its extensive financial aid to Pakistan amid growing questions about Pakistan’s willingness to root out militants. On Sunday, the Obama administration confirmed it would withhold $800 million in aid to Pakistan, one-third of its total $2 billion in annual security assistance to the country. It's the latest sign of a rift between Washington and Islamabad since the raid; Pakistani officials angrily condemned the bin Laden mission as a violation of their sovereignty and kicked hundreds of U.S. and British military trainers out of the country in response.

The Pakistani government has long rebuffed American requests to expand its military push into North Waziristan, a lawless border area in the country's mountainous northwest, leaving militants a sanctuary to plan attacks within both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Intelligence officials there told the Post that CIA drone strikes killed more than 50 suspected militants in North and South Waziristan in four strikes starting Monday night.