Waziristan operation may achieve objectives by mid-December: FM

Daily Times

* Qureshi says Taliban leadership on the run
* Pakistan seeks role in new US strategy on Afghanistan
* Poorly-planned troop surge could push militants into Pakistan

KUALA LUMPUR: The army hopes to rout the Taliban in South Waziristan before a bitter cold sets in, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday.

"The operation so far has been very successful. The resistance that we were expecting initially did not come with the same swiftness we were expecting," Qureshi - who is in Kuala Lumpur to attend a meeting of Islamic countries starting Monday - told reporters.

"South Waziristan is an area which is very important in order to check terrorist activity in Pakistan. Not just Pakistan, but beyond," said Qureshi.

He said the armed forces had surrounded the area and choked supply lines to the Taliban. "They are on the run. They are in retreat and there is disarray over there," he said.

Qureshi said it would be difficult to give a timeframe for total military success, but "we would want to achieve our objectives as much as possible before the winter sets in".

"And it seems, as things are going on, that we might be able to do so ... I can't give you a date, but that area becomes very cold (by late December). We want to operate and establish our foothold before that."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Pakistan, said it was hard to believe that no one in Pakistan's government knew where the Al Qaeda leadership was hiding.

Qureshi dismissed suggestions that Clinton's rebuke was an embarrassment. He said Clinton was not being "negative or sarcastic", but "objective" because she was speaking as a partner in the war on terror.

Qureshi urged the US to coordinate with Pakistan as it fights Al Qaeda in Afghanistan's border area.

"We feel a troop surge which is well-coordinated with us would produce results ... Pakistan's point of view is that it is not only the numbers that will count in Afghanistan. It's how you use those numbers." He said he told Hillary that the US could benefit from Pakistan's input.

Qureshi said he put the request for closer involvement in the US deliberations to Hillary Clinton during her visit to Pakistan.

Qureshi said that a well-coordinated surge in troop numbers would have a good chance of success, but a poorly planned escalation could merely push militants across the border into Pakistan. agencies