Saleh Urges U.S To Target Terrorists In Pakistan

Former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Amrullah Saleh, said in an interview with Al Jazeera the Pakistan army and intelligence agency support terrorist groups including the Taliban. He called on the United States (U.S) to target terrorist safe havens across the Durand Line. Saleh emphasized that the United States should make it clear to Pakistan that the U.S is a super power and that it does not have endless patience for Islamabad’s continued support of terrorists groups. “We do not necessarily expect that based on our recommendation Washington declares war on Pakistan, but at least we are sitting on a massive amount of intelligence, both us and the Americans, which clearly shows Pakistan is supporting terrorism. What the United States does need to do is to come up with more clarity and tell the Pakistanis we know what you are doing and we are a superpower, but we do not have super patience." Saleh also welcomed the move to increase foreign troops in Afghanistan, but said terrorist safe heavens must be bombed in Pakistan. Saleh also criticized former president Hamid Karzai’s stance against the Taliban and foreign troops. “I have not been in agreement and in sync with such an ideas and some specific ideas and propositions of our former president since 2010 and I still hope that the former president will not look at it from a narrow perspective; he should look into the reality of Afghanistan where most of the people - the majority of the Afghan people - oppose the Taliban and terrorism. He should side with the majority and ask for the defeat of these blood thirsty groups,” he added. Saleh also touched on his resignation from the state ministry on reforms in the security sector and said he does not want to highlight the reasons, because if he does, the enemies of the country will benefit.