Pakistan army denies US troops were in northwest
Pakistan: Pakistan's military has denied a report that US Special
Forces were embedded with Pakistani troops for intelligence- gathering
missions in the northwest of the country.
The local Dawn newspaper said on Saturday it obtained secret
dispatches from WikiLeaks that revealed that US Special Forces were
deployed with Pakistani troops in joint operations in Pakistan by
September of 2009.
A spokesman from the Pakistani military's media relations department
categorically denied the presence of American troops in North and South
Waziristan. Waziristan, part of Pakistan's unruly Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA), is seen as a global hub for militants, including al
Qaeda and Afghan Taliban factions which cross the border to attack US
troops in Afghanistan.
"No US troops are involved in any military operations in FATA," said
the spokesman. The WikiLeaks cables could hurt the powerful Pakistani
military's image.It faced rare criticism after a secret US special
forces raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden not far from the
capital Islamabad this month.
The army condemned the assault, which has severely strained ties
between the two countries, as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
Sunday, The dawn |