Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan of special operations force commanders, Khan said the army was still busy consolidating its operations following an earlier push into South Waziristan and needed to adhere to a schedule for what he called a long campaign. Asked if troops would eventually go into North Waziristan, home to a complex web of militant groups, to attack fighters there, he replied: "Of course, all these areas which are affected are on our agenda, yes."
"It is a long-drawn battle, a long-drawn war, and we are continuing and there is a definite plan, there is a definite strategy which is being followed. It is just not firefighting, because there's a whole lot of areas affected by this (militancy)."
"Given the limitation of resources and troops involvement and not to leave one portion undone and going to another (too soon), it is sequential. In every area we have already got forces which are busy consolidating." Some Western officials have questioned the determination of Pakistan to tackle militants while the long-time US ally addresses other problems, from a sluggish economy to power cuts that have made the government unpopular.
But Khan said North Waziristan's geography made it an exceptionally difficult region in which to wage war and suggested any move into the region could not be done lightly. He referred to a presentation on mountain warfare given at the conference by a special forces colleague, Major General Farrukh Bashir, commander of the military's Special Services Group.
Bashir enumerated many obstacles to mountain fighting, including difficulties in helicopter use, in achieving surprise, the need for large numbers of troops acclimatised for high altitude, and very restricted manoeuvrability. Bashir told the audience: "Pakistan has the capacity and resolve to defeat militancy. We only expect the international community to understand the nature of the conflict. Some conflicts are very difficult to bring to an end quickly." Asked if he would accept more US special forces to Pakistan, Khan declined to reply directly, noting there had been a limited number of these forces doing training in Pakistan for some time and they continued to play that role.
Another participant in the conference, organised by the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, was Major General Charles Cleveland, Commander of Special Operations for US Central Command, which includes Afghanistan.