The US raids inside Pakistan (see p1) raise the risk of terrorist attacks in London, said Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Pakistani high commissioner to Britain, on 14 September.
“This will infuriate Muslims in this country and make the streets of London less safe,” he added. “The Americans’ trigger-happy actions will radicalise young Muslims. They’re playing into the hands of the very militants we’re supposed to be fighting.”
Pointing out that no high-level Taliban or al Qa’eda leader had been killed in the strikes, Hasan asked: “What have they gained out of this except animosity?”
UN agrees
A day earlier, Richard Barrett, head of the UN’s al Qa’eda monitoring unit, said the operations of British and foreign troops in Afghanistan were providing “a glue” being exploited by the al Qa’eda network.
Barrett said: “You could say that the threat of foreign occupation is giving them oxygen in the region - with tribal leaders leaving aside local differences to unite against foreign forces.”