DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Afghanistan With Pakistan In US-Pak War Says Hamid Karzai
(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala, India - October 23, 2011: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that if the United States and Pakistan ever went to war, his country would back Islamabad — a statement that contrasts with his harsh criticism of his eastern neighbor during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent visit to Kabul.
Such a scenario is exceedingly unlikely, and Karzai's remarks appeared to be less a serious statement of policy than an overture to Pakistan, whose cooperation is sorely needed if Afghanistan is to have a chance at stability after years of conflict and civil war.
Nonetheless, Karzai's comments during an interview with the private GEO television station in Pakistan broadcast on Saturday contrasted sharply with his show of alliance with Washington during Clinton's visit last week, during which the American ramped up the pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants using its territory for attacks into Afghanistan.
"If fighting starts between Pakistan and the U.S., we are beside Pakistan," Karzai said. "If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan's help, Afghanistan will be there with you."
He said his country was indebted to Pakistan for taking in millions of Afghan refugees over the years and stressed that Kabul would not allow any nation — be it the U.S., India, Russia, China or anyone else — to dictate its policies.
"Anybody that attacks Pakistan, Afghanistan will stand with Pakistan," he said. "Afghanistan will never betray its brother."
Both Washington and Kabul have repeatedly said Pakistan is providing sanctuary to terrorist groups launching attacks in Afghanistan.
Clinton, joined by a bevy of top U.S. officials including CIA director David Petraeus, flew to Pakistan after her Kabul visit with the blunt message that if Islamabad is unwilling or unable to take the fight to the al-Qaida and Taliban-linked Haqqani network operating from its western border with Afghanistan, the U.S. "would show" Pakistan how to eliminate that militant group's safe havens.
Even so, she said the U.S. has no intention of deploying U.S. forces across the border in Pakistan. She suggested that the favored solution would be reconciliation and peace efforts and that Islamabad needs to cooperate.
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