Pakistan under no US pressure to send troops to Iraq: FM
uploaded 05 Aug 2003ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said that Pakistan was not under pressure to send its troops to Iraq but reiterated that it would join the international stabilisation force if under a United Nations umbrella.
"There is absolutely no pressure on Pakistan to send its troops to Iraq," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted the minister as telling reporters here on Sunday.
A decision to send troops to Iraq would be taken after a UN resolution on the issue, he said.
Officials last month said that Britain and the United States had requested two brigades of Pakistani troops join peacekeeping forces in post-war Iraq.
Islamabad has insisted it would only consider sending troops if cover was provided by either the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) or Gulf Cooperation Countries.
The foreign ministry also indicated last month that Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war against terrorism, could consider sending troops if the Iraqi people or their leadership asked for such help.
Kasuri's comments followed recent visits to Pakistan by high-ranking US officials including General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and new Central Command chief General John Abizaid.
Kasuri said although it was the "earnest desire" of Britain and the United States that Pakistan should send its forces to Iraq "there is no pressure from America or any other country on this issue."
Religious and liberal opposition parties in Muslim Pakistan have vowed to oppose any move to send troops to Iraq.
Pakistan has provided at least three air bases to the coalition forces in the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan and its security forces have rounded up some 500 al-Qaeda suspects since the ouster of the hardline Taliban regime 20 months ago.
Source: AFP
