ISLAMABAD: The US has moved hundreds of new troops to the Afghan area bordering Pakistan’s insurgentinfested North Waziristan tribal region along with heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and sealed movement on the border.
US forces deployed to new positions in the border areas facing Ghulam Khan in Pakistan between Saturday and Sunday night. The troops occupied nearby vantage heights on hilltops, setting up observation posts, The News International said quoting Pakistani security officials and tribal elders.
Geo television reported that tribesmen living in the border areas said Afghan and US authorities had clamped a curfew in parts of Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province and started house-to-house search.
The News reported that the abrupt deployment of US forces near the border area with Pakistan has escalated tension in the militancyplagued North Waziristan tribal region as US forces immediately sealed the main road connecting Pakistan border town of Ghulam Khan and Khost for traffic.
Pakistani security officials in North Waziristan confirmed the latest development and said they were monitoring the situation on the border with Afghanistan, The News reported.
There is no word from the US and NATO forces on the Pakistani media reports.
The American troop movement has been reported as US unmanned spy planes have stepped up strikes in the Waziristan tribal belt over the past few days. Washington Post quoting US officials has said that US has opened a new more aggressive approach towards the dreaded Haqqani network.
«The Obama administration has launched the opening salvos of a new, more aggressive approach towards an Afghan insurgent group it asserts is supported by Pakistan’s government,» the report said. The post quoted officials as saying that the new operation may include intensified drone strikes on Miranshah, centre of North Waziristan and was made «at a National Security Council meeting chaired by President Obama two weeks ago» .
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com