Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened Sunday to send Afghan troops across the border to fight militants in Pakistan, a forceful warning to insurgents and the Pakistani government that his country is fed up with cross-border attacks. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reacted by saying that his country will not allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs. “Afghanistan has the right of self defense. When they (militants) cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same. Therefore, Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house,” said Karzai. Gilani reacted by saying: “We will neither interfere in the internal affairs of any country, nor will we allow anyone to interfere in our affairs.” “Such statements will not help in the normalization of friendly relations between the two countries and will hurt the sentiments of people on both sides of the border,” the Pakistani prime minister told private ARY-OneWorld television. Speaking at a Sunday news conference, Karzai warned Pakistan-based Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud that Afghan forces would target him on his home turf. Mehsud is suspected in last year's assassination of former Pakistani prime pinister Benazir Bhutto. “And the other fellow, (Taleban leader) Mullah Omar of Pakistan should know the same,” Karzai continued. “This is a two-way road in this case, and Afghans are good at the two-way road journey. We will complete the journey and we will get them and we will defeat them. We will avenge all that they have done to Afghanistan for the past so many years.” NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it was not going to comment. Karzai has long pleaded for Pakistan and international forces to confront militants in Pakistan, but has never before said he would send Afghan troops across the border. US officials have increased their warnings in recent weeks that the Afghan conflict will drag on for years unless militant safe havens in Pakistan are taken out. Military officials say counterinsurgency campaigns are extremely difficult to win when militants have safe areas where they can train, recruit and stockpile supplies. Karzai said in recent fighting in the Garmser district of Helmand province – where hundreds of US Marines have been battling insurgents for the last two months – that most of the fighters came from Pakistan.
