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DAVOS, Switzerland-Pakistan's president said Friday U.S. troops cannot do a better job than his forces in routing the Taliban and al-Qaida, and the United States should increase its presence in Afghanistan instead to deal with the growing insurgency there.Pervez Musharraf reiterated that Pakistan opposes any foreign forces on its soil and said "the man in the street will not allow this-he will come out and agitate."Musharraf was responding to a question about reports that the U.S. government was considering far more aggressive covert operations in Pakistan, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' offer Thursday to send a small number of combat troops to Pakistan to help fight the insurgency there if Pakistani authorities ask for help."This cannot be done by any U.S. force," Musharraf told several hundred VIPs at a breakfast on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. "Please don't think that the U.S. forces have some kind of a magic wand and they'll come and lead to success.""This environment is worse than what they're facing in Afghanistan. The mountains are higher, and there is no communications infrastructure," he said.Musharraf said President Bush told him he respects Pakistan's sovereignty and "is not asking me, and he's the most important." He said he was sure the U.S. force commander "will say, please remain where we are by ourselves."He stressed that there is "total" U.S.-Pakistani cooperation on military tactics and strategy on both sides of the border, and "good coordination" on intelligence."The problem is the media that keeps carrying on regarding the forces should go across the border. They wouldn't be able to achieve anything that we haven't been able to achieve, so let them handle Afghanistan," Musharraf said."They need more force there, by the way. So therefore, please add force there before you think of sending them across into our borders," he said."So there's no problem, and if ... we need something that we can get from the United States to assist us in our operations, and which will make us stronger, let me tell you that we ask for it and we get it," Musharraf said.Musharraf is on a tour of Europe seeking to convince leaders there he is in control of the country and is committed to restoring full democracy eight years after he seized control in a military coup. He gave up his position as army commander in December as part of that transition.While he has been focusing on diplomacy, Pakistan's army is increasingly engaged in combat with pro-Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan.
As in the days of Noah....
