Pak Defence Minister decries US inaction over TTP safe haven in Afghanistan

Asserting that top leadership of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) enjoys safe haven in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said no international power, including the United States, is willing to take action against the group.

"They [international powers] are unwilling to conduct operations in the Afghan areas from where TTP leaders, including its head honcho Mullah Fazlullah, are hatching conspiracies with the help of India to destabilise Pakistan," the Express Tribune quoted him as saying.

According to reports, Islamabad has repeatedly complained to the Afghan Government and Nato forces that the TTP militants are using the Afghan soil as springboard for launching terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

The Defence Minister said the U.S. drone attack on May 21 that killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan was not a failure of Pakistan's foreign policy and instead affected the efforts under way for establishing peace in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan will continue its efforts to establish a durable peace in Afghanistan because it desires good relations with its neighbours.

He urged that both Kabul and Washington should show their 'direly needed sincerity' for this purpose.

Ascertaining that the country's defence was in safe hands and no one could dare to cast an evil eye on it, he said that Pakistan was keeping all options open on the American indecision over F-16 fighter jets.

Asif alleged that international powers, including the U.S. were providing ammunition to India for use against Pakistan.