Don't have capacity to take action against Haqqani: Pak Army

Washington, Oct 28: The Pakistani military has told the Pentagon that it does not have the capacity to take action against the Haqqani network, a US military General based in Afghanistan has said.

"The Pakistanis have said to me that they simply don't have the capacity at this time to take on that insurgent network at this point within their borders," Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Kabul.

Scaparrotti is the Commander of International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, and Deputy Commander, US Forces. "We are obviously working with them to determine how best to have an impact inside of that sanctuary. We work very hard on our side to affect them in terms of interdiction, their cache and the movement cross border," he said.

"And as you probably know, we are having a greater success on the Afghan side, greater success this year in terms of interdiction. And our focus operations have had a good effect on that network as well," the US general said.

While the Taliban is a great threat not only for their numbers but also because of their intent to reoccupy and rule Afghanistan, the Haqqani Network, though a much smaller network, is collaborative along with expertise and facilitation, Scaparrotti said.

"But it's a great threat to this country because it is collaborative. While smaller, it provides a great deal of expertise and facilitation, and it's willing to work with almost any of the other insurgent networks that have effect in Afghanistan.

"So while they perhaps are not the most serious threat to Afghanistan's stability as a country, they're certainly a very serious threat," he said. Scaparrotti said that he is working hard on the mil-to-mil aspect to improve relations with his counterparts in Pakistan to discuss about the common objectives and insurgents. The US general added that the insurgents inside of Pakistan are a threat to the country as much as they are a threat to Afghanistan or to our country.

PTI