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US won't negotiate with Pak-Taliban: Gates | US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that President Obama is sending extra troops to Afghanistan in order to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table, but clarified
that America won't negotiate with Taliban leaders in Pakistan, as "it's up to the Pakistani military to deal with this problem." "I think that the likelihood
of the leadership of the Taliban, or senior leaders, being willing to accept the
conditions depends in the first instance on reversing their momentum right now,
and putting them in a position where they suddenly begin to realise that they're
likely to lose," The Daily Times quoted Gates, as saying. But Gates added that
the US would not pursue the Pak-Taliban, as it was up to Islamabad to address
the threat posed by the terrorists to its territory. "Pakistan is a sovereign
government. We are in a partnership with them. I think at this point it's up to
the Pakistani military to deal with this problem," Gates said. His comments come
amid reports claiming that the White House had granted authority to the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) to expand a bombing campaign in Pakistan by unmanned
aircraft to strike the Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives. He added that the US had
confidence that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was secure despite the threat posed
by the insurgents. "We're comfortable (with the security of the country's atomic
weapons)," Gates said. Gates said Washington did not know where Al Qaeda leader
Osama Bin Laden was and had lacked reliable information on his whereabouts for
years. Referring to the last time US intelligence had a fix on Bin Laden's whereabouts,
Gates said, "I think it's been years." |
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