Pakistan to pull troops from Afghan border if U.S. cuts aid
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Xinhua, July 12, 2011
Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has threatened that the government will pull back troops from the tribal regions along border with Afghanistan in reaction to the suspension of nearly 800 million U. S. dollars of military aid.
The defence minister told local TV Express in an interview scheduled to be broadcast Teusday night that the government would pull back troops from the nearly 1,100 check posts set up along the Pak-Afghan border, who have been deployed to check illegal cross-border movement.
He said that 300 million U.S. dollars of this aid specifically goes to troops serving in this troubled region. "This money (U.S. military aid) is not for fighting the war, but is money that we have spent already," he said, adding that Pakistan could not afford to keep its military out in the mountains or in the border areas for a long period of time.
"The next step would be that the government or the armed forces will pull back the forces from the border areas," said the defence minister.
The U.S. aid was blocked to react to Pakistan's decision to expel over 100 U.S. military personnel who had been in Pakistan to impart training to Pakistani forces.
Reports said that the United States is also angry at Pakistan's refusal to grant more visas to its military officers. The U.S. is also considering a move to mount pressure on Islamabad to take more steps against the militants.
To a question about the U.S. Defence Minister Leon Panetta's assertion that al-Qaida chief al-Zawahiri is hiding in Pakistan, Mukhtar said that he hoped the United States would not repeat the mistakes it made in the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden. "This time round we hope the Americans will work with the Pakistanis and share their intelligence," he added.
