US shares Karzai’s legitimate concerns over terror threats from Pakistan: Gen Petraeus

KABUL - The commander of US-NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, has said that he shared Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s concerns about threats from across the border in Pakistan.

He however said that the Pakistanis deserved credit for waging an “impressive counterinsurgency campaign” during the past 18 months.

“Given the very clear linkage between attacks on the Afghan soil by individuals who have come from Pakistan and are commanded and controlled from Pakistan, I think President Karzai has very legitimate concerns,” Petraeus said.

The top US military commander in Afghanistan was referring to growing calls by the Afghan government in recent days about the need to destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan, the Daily Times reports.

General Petraeus said that the Pakistani government had continued to “squeeze the locations in which these individuals have safe sanctuary, recognising that more work needs to be done”.

Petraeus also said that Karzai’s efforts to reconcile with top Taliban leaders are “beyond the surface, but they are certainly in the early stages”.

He acknowledged that the Taliban were expanding their footprint across the country even as international forces close in on their traditional southern strongholds. (ANI)