A Stop-The-Presses Alert from the Secretary of Defense. “Taliban, Al-Qaeda regrouping in Pak: Gates,” by Sridhar Krishnaswami for PTI, :
Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said Taliban and Al-Qaeda are using Pakistan’s tribal areas particularly north Waziristan to regroup, a problem the United States is trying to address with Islamabad.
“I would say the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have been able to use the areas around particularly north Waziristan to regroup and it is a problem. We are working together with Pakistan to address that problem,” Gates told mediapersons at the Pentagon.
Responding to queries whether the safe havens and training camps used by Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan can be taken out by the US if Pakistan was either unable or unwilling to do so, Gates only confirmed the problem, without getting into the specifics of the rules of engagement along the restive border.