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Rediff.com  » News » Kerry rules out American troops to Pakistan

Kerry rules out American troops to Pakistan

By Lalit K Jha in Washington
May 01, 2009 04:19 IST
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Ruling out sending American troops to Pakistan to assist the country's offensive against Taliban, Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee today said Islamabad would have to develop a "homegrown" policy to fight extremists.
     
The United States, he said, would help empower Pakistani forces and enhance the capabilities of its government to
successfully fight out the extremist elements, which are posing a severe danger to the very existence of the country.
     
"It can't be an American-driven policy. It can't have an American imprint or footprint. This really has to be homegrown
and that's what we're really working with Pakistanis to achieve," Kerry told the Fox news in an interview.
     
Ruling out US troops to Pakistan, Kerry said America can however, send troops for training if Pakistan desires."We're not going to send troops by any significant numbers of any kind to Pakistan. We may have some people training or helping if that's something they decide they want," he said.
     
"This is not our battle, in a sense. Pakistan, the outcome, is going to be determined by Pakistanis themselves making a choice about whether or not they're going to stand up to the Taliban and assert their democratic values," he said.
     
"I believe they will, I think they are, and I think the White House is trying to figure out the best ways in which to
empower them to do that," Kerry said.
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Lalit K Jha in Washington
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