Islamabad, Jan. 6 (TNS): Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that Pakistan’s recent counter-terrorism operations including those in the tribal areas have cleared the country of both the organized presence of militants and areas where they might seek sanctuary, state media reported on Saturday.
In an interview he however said that Taliban fighters still slip through and meld into its large Afghan refugee population.
The Minister said there are 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
He said that lack of cooperation from Washington and Kabul on both returning refugees to Afghanistan and fencing the border between the two countries raises the suspicion.
