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War on terror: ‘Pakistan did not agree to new rules of engagement’

LAHORE: New rules of engagement authorising United States ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President George W Bush in July, were not agreed to by that country’s civilian government or its military, US and Pakistani officials told the Washington Post. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, according to the newspaper, was informed last month by senior US defence officials that if Pakistan failed to stem the flow of Taliban and other terrorist fighters into Afghanistan, the US would adopt a new strategy –one allowing ground strikes on targeted insurgent encampments. A senior Pakistani official told the Post that Kayani believed the strategy was still under discussion and that Pakistan’s counterinsurgency performance was improving. A senior European official said NATO allies were unaware if the new US rules had been approved. The official called the implementation of the new strategy “peculiar”, since its timing coincided with this week’s inauguration of President Asif Ali Zardari. Previous military rules of engagement, agreed to by Pakistan, allowed US forces to travel up to six miles across the border if they were in “hot pursuit” of fighters chased from inside Afghanistan. daily times monitor

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