Pakistan is a country and “not some vegetable” which could be taken away by Taliban

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ISLAMABAD (APP) – Rejecting any possibility or danger of Taliban ever taking over Pakistan, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that Pakistan is a country and “not some vegetable” which could be taken away by Taliban.

“Certainly not. It is out of question. I don’t think that even they (Taliban) can think of taking over Pakistan. Pakistan is a country. It is not some vegetable that they will come and take it”, Gilani said in response to a question during an interview with Al-Jazeera television telecast late Friday night. Gilani said, “Pakistan is in very safe hands. Our armed forces are loyal and highly professional. They are defending the boundaries of Pakistan and one thing I tell you there is absolutely no danger.”

“But at the same time we want greater cooperation with the United States in defence and intelligence so that we can jointly act against the militants”, he added.

About the new US policy on Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was fighting this war because it was in the interest of whole world, adding, however the military actions were not the solutions for the problems. “We have to devise some exit policy and for the exit policy we have to do more social, cultural and political work in those areas. We have to empower the people and we have to develop and reconstruct those areas”, he added. Gilani agreed with President Obama that sooner or later the people of Afghanistan will have to be empowered. “I don’t know what is the time-frame but there should be some exit policy”, he added.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/06-Dec-2009/Taliban-cannot-take-over-country-Gilani