Strategy and timing of North Waziristan offensive Pak's discretion: NATO

Islamabad, May 21 (ANI): A top North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) official has said that it is for Pakistan to decide as to when it wants to launch an offensive against the Taliban and other extremists in North Waziristan.

"It is for Pakistan to set its strategy and the timings," The Daily Times quoted NATO's deputy assistant secretary general Robert Simmons, as saying.

Pakistan has already made it clear that it would not succumb to any pressure from the United States as regards the timing of the offensive in the Taliban's stronghold, and that any decision in this regard would be 'sovereign'.

"Be it the Tribal Areas or any other part, Pakistan will proceed in accordance with its own priorities and plans." Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Abdul Basit said while responding to a question whether Islamabad would launch a full-fledged military offensive in North Waziristan, the Taliban stronghold, for which the Obama administration has been piling pressure on it.

"Be it the Tribal Areas or any other part, Pakistan will proceed in accordance with its own priorities and plans," Basit said during a regular press briefing here.

It may be noted that President Obama's top two security advisors National Security Adviser General James Jones and Central Investigation Agency (CIA) chief Leon Panetta were recently in Islamabad with a White House' message that Pakistan, without wasting any more time, should initiate an operation against the extremists flourishing in the tribal regions along the Afghanistan border. (ANI)