|
President Bush on Monday acknowledged that, following Afghanistan’s announcement that its troops would pursue militants into Pakistan, the situation between the two countries is “testy.” Following a Taliban attack in the Kandahar region that allowed hundreds of prisoners to escape from a prison, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that his troops would reach across the border to attack the rebels. When asked whether he supports that strategy, which has met with protests from Pakistan, Bush said that the strategy of the U.S. and Afghanistan is to “deny safe haven to extremists who would do harm to innocent people.” This, Bush told reporters in England, also “needs to be the strategy of Pakistan.” “If I’m the president of a country and people are coming from one country to another — allegedly coming from one country to another — to kill innocent civilians on my side, I'd be concerned about it,” Bush said. However, the president noted that Karzai’s plans could cause problems between the two countries. “Obviously, it’s a testy situation there,” Bush said. He offered U.S. help to “calm the situation down and develop a strategy that will prevent these extremists from developing safe haven and having freedom of movement.” Bush also said there should be better cooperation between the involved parties, including coalition forces and tribal leaders. He noted that, in the past, tribal leaders from both sides of the border had addressed issues in a grand council, called a jirga. “I think that would be a good idea, to restart the jirga process,” Bush said. |
