NATO-Pak to hold ‘more hammer and anvil operations’ on Pak-Afghan border: Petraeus

KHOST - The commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, has said that there will be more coordinated military operations on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Petraeus said that there had already been coordinated operations, with Pakistani forces on one side and NATO and Afghan troops on the other.

“We want to do more hammer and anvil operations,” the Daily Times quoted Petraeus, as saying.

“Pakistan recognised the need to do more to solidify their gains in FATA, and we are going to coordinate with them to help their operations,” he added.

The ISAF chief also commended Pakistan for its “impressive” counter-insurgency efforts.

“We have to be very clear in recognising what Pakistan has done over the course of the last 22 months, which is quite considerable,” Petraeus said.

“They’ve conducted impressive counterinsurgency operations in several regions, including Swat and the tribal regions. And they have sustained significant military losses and civilian losses during the course of that time,” he added. (ANI)