NATO offers to train Pakistani forces

Tue, 02 Feb 2010

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has offered to help the Islamabad government train and equip Pakistani security forces to fight pro-Taliban militants.

"I can confirm that we had a good discussion on how we could further develop practical cooperation, including training activities," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

"It will be a process driven by Pakistani demands; but if it is a request from the Pakistani military or the Pakistani government, NATO is prepared to engage in training activities," he added.

The training would involve mid-level Pakistani officers and be carried out in the alliance's schools in Europe.

The report comes as militants on Monday attacked and destroyed a fuel tanker in northwest Pakistan carrying supplies for US-led troops across the border into conflict-plagued Afghanistan.

Two people, a driver and his assistant, were wounded after approximately 10 unidentified assailants fired at the tanker and later lobbed a rocket at it, igniting some 78,000 liters of fuel.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the pro-Taliban groups and other local militants have regularly attacked NATO supply vehicles on the main route through northwest Pakistan.

About 80 percent of supplies destined for the more than 113,000 US and NATO troops in landlocked Afghanistan pass through the Khyber town of Landi Kotal. The tribal district is just outside Peshawar on the main land supply route to Afghanistan.

American officials say northwest Pakistan is a haven for militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan to regroup and launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.

Supplies heading to forces fighting in southern Afghanistan also pass through Pakistan's Balochistan province, which is plagued by separatist unrest.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117642§ionid=351020401.