WASHINGTON: The United States State Department had no specific comment to offer on the Swat peace agreement, saying it is in contact with the Pakistani government to learn about the full strategy.“We are in touch with the government in Pakistan, we are discussing the issue, but that is all I have for you at the moment,” a State Department spokesman said at the daily briefing in his cautious response to questions on the development that Pakistan said would help bring peace to its restive valley in the northwestern province, bordering Afghanistan. Spokesman Gordon K. Duguid, asked to comment on enforcement of Shariat-based justice system in Swat said, “As I understand that Islamic law is within the constitutional framework of Pakistan, so I don’t know that is particularly an issue for anyone outside of Pakistan to discuss.” Pressed if Washington saw the agreement as a good or bad development, he said “We have seen these sorts of actions before, what is important is that we are all working together to fight terrorism, and particularly to fight the cross-border activities that some Taliban engage in, in attacking in Afghanistan.” Asked if the United States shared NATO’s comments on the possible impact the agreement may have in terms of providing sanctuaries for militants, he said: “We are a part of NATO, I saw those comments, I did not see the full context of them, however. So I won’t, I don’t have anything further to offer on that.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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