ISLAMABAD: Several US military officials said cross-border incursions are necessary as the Pakistan Government has failed to contain al-Qaida fighters in restive tribal areas.

"Elite Special Operations Forces of the US army are now hunting across the Pakistani border, searching through the mountain peaks, valleys and dusty villages inside the country for al-Qaida fighters, Taliban militants, warlords, weapons smugglers and opium traffickers," a news report said.

The US military claims cross-border incursions are necessary because the Pakistani government has failed to contain Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, the report said.

Army Times, a military newspaper, recently reported that the US will temporarily halt ground incursions into Pakistan.

"We are now working with the Pakistanis to make sure that those types of ground-type insertions do not happen, at least for a period of time to give them an opportunity to do what they claim they are desiring to do," the newspaper quoted an unnamed Pentagon official as saying.

However it said that the halt did not apply to the incursions by drones.

On the other hand, a Pakistani military official said "we have deployed 1,20,000 troops along Afghan border whereas only 30,000 US troops deployed on the Afghan side."

He said "you see where the insufficiency of forces is?"

The official also claimed that there have been about 50 drone incursions into Pakistan since this summer, along with roughly 10 "physical incursions, which had killed several hundred" civilians and were causing panic in the tribal areas."

"The US strikes undermine the Pakistani militarys ability to operate in the tribal areas," the official said.
Source : DNA