WASHINGTON - The US on Friday declined specific comments on Pakistan's military actions in North Waziristan, stating they are being conducted "solely" by the Pakistani security forces.
“I will refer you to them (Pakistani authorities) for details of their actions. I think they describe these retaliatory in nature,” spokesperson at the State Department Marie Harf said in response to questions at the regular noon briefing.
“These actions have been conducted solely by Pakistani security forces,” she added.
Asked whether Washington backed the Pakistani military actions, Harf said, "Broadly speaking, the US and Pakistan work very closely on counterterrorism and how they can increase their capacity to fight the threat," adding, she had no analysis to offer on the latest actions.
At the same time, Harf noted that there has certainly been the threat of terrorism in Pakistan for its citizens.
Meanwhile, according to a recent UN report, the Taliban raised about $400 million last year from sources that included donations, taxing local economies and extorting money from such targets as drug dealers, cell phone operators and aid projects.
The report to the UN Security Council by the sanctions monitoring team said that about $275 million of that income reached Taliban leadership and the rest was collected, spent or misappropriated at the local level.
“The team understands Taliban funding as follows: revenue raised from taxing the local economy serves primarily to support local operations and is only in a few cases channeled upwards,” the report said.
“Revenue extorted from nation-wide enterprises such as narcotics producers and traffickers, construction and trucking companies, mobile telephone operators, mining companies and aid and development projects goes to the Taliban Financial Commission which answers to the Taliban leadership,” it said.
Donations were another major source of funding, which also went directly to the Taliban leadership.