'US making Islamabad scapegoat for failure to beat Afghan insurgency': Pak army commander

Islamabad, May 9 (ANI): A top Pakistani military commander has reportedly accused Washington of seeking to make Islamabad a scapegoat for its failure to beat insurgency in Afghanistan.

Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani, the corps commander for Peshawar, during an interview with an American Press agency, said US efforts to talk peace with insurgents in Afghanistan meant Washington can no longer expect Pakistan to attack all militant factions on its side of the border, some of whom Islamabad is also reaching out to.

"Why do they raise their fingers toward Pakistan? It is shifting the blame to others," The Express Tribune quoted Lt. Gen. Rabbani, as saying.

Lt. Gen. Rabbani remarks came a day after militants in North Waziristan killed 13 soldiers, including four that it captured when troops raided a militant hideout.

According to the paper, Lt. Gen. Rabbani defended the government's dealings with North Waziristan-based militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is believed to have signed a nonaggression pact with the government, saying "at the moment he seems to be trying to keep himself out of the trouble."

He also stressed that U.S. and NATO were in contact with insurgents in Afghanistan to try and "co-opt them into the peace process."

"Something has to be done, and it's in the offing. North Waziristan is the only region we haven't cleared. It should be done as early as possible," the paper quoted Lt. Gen. Rabbani, as saying. (ANI)