- ISLAMABAD (AFP) -- Pakistan
reacted angrily Sunday to reports that US President George W. Bush is considering
covert military operations in the country's volatile tribal areas bordering
Afghanistan.
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- "It is not up to the US administration, it is Pakistan's
government who is responsible for this country," chief military spokesman
Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
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- "There are no overt or covert US operations inside
Pakistan. Such reports are baseless and we reject them."
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- The New York Times reported on its website late Saturday
that under a proposal being discussed in Washington, CIA operatives based
in Afghanistan would be able to call on direct military support for counter-terrorism
operations in neighbouring Pakistan.
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- Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper
said the proposal called for giving Central Intelligence Agency agents
broader powers to strike targets in Pakistan.
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- Pakistan's western tribal belt is seen as a safe haven
for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who carry out attacks in Afghanistan,
as well as the most likely hideout for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
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- The United States now has about 50 soldiers in Pakistan,
the report said.
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- The new plan was reportedly discussed by vice-president
Dick Cheney, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and national security
aides in the wake of the December 27 assassination of Pakistani opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto.
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- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had not been consulted,
the New York Times reported.
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- Military spokesman Arshad also dismissed comments from
White House hopeful Hillary Clinton that she would propose a joint US-British
team to oversee the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if she was elected
president.
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- "We do not require anybody's assistance. We are
fully capable of doing it on our own," he said.
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- Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq
late Sunday described the New York Times report as "speculative"
but said any suggestion of US forces on its territory was "unacceptable".
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- On Clinton's remarks about nuclear weapons, Sadiq added:
"It must be clearly understood that Pakistan alone is and will be
responsible for the security of its nuclear assets."
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