Pakistan Says It Won't Let U.S. Troops Cross Border
Wed Mar 27, 4:18 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan said Wednesday it will not let U.S. troops chase al Qaeda and Taliban fighters fleeing neighboring Afghanistan (news - web sites) into its territory.
Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told Reuters the United States had not asked to deploy troops on Pakistani side of the border to prevent such escapes.
"Neither they have requested nor will we allow this," Khan said.
Tuesday, two U.S. senators visiting soldiers in Afghanistan said some al Qaeda fighters had fled to Pakistan and raised the possibility of putting U.S. troops on the rugged border to prevent others from escaping.
Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters, "I am hoping that the government of Pakistan is going to join us in a big way to rid the border of ... the al Qaeda who would use Pakistan as a sanctuary."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters on Monday he had no plans to send U.S. troops across the border to help Pakistanis look for Al Qaeda and Taliban troops who fled Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a key partner in the U.S.-led war on terror in neighboring Afghanistan, has fanned troops out along the long border, which weaves its way through rugged mountains, to keep out fighters from Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network and the Taliban.
Pakistani troops are believed to have captured hundreds of suspected al Qaeda members fleeing U.S. air strikes on the Tora Bora region in Afghanistan in December.
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