Not ruling out the possibility of a US ground offensive against militants in the North Waziristan tribal region, Pakistan’s all-powerful Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that Washington will think “ten times” before launching such an attack. The Haqqani network is based in the restive tribal region.

“They [the US] might do it [attack North Waziristan] but they will have to think 10 times because Pakistan is not Iraq or Afghanistan,” Kayani was quoted as telling members of Parliament’s defence committee during a three-hour briefing at the General Headquarters.

The US has been putting up pressure on Pakistan for years to go after Haqqani network militants in North Waziristan, who cross the border to attack US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The pressure has become intense since US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in May in Abbottabad.

However, Kayani did not specify what Pakistan would do if American troops, now massed on the Afghan side of the border, did move into North Waziristan hunting for the militant Haqqani network.

Acknowledging that the US was pressing Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan, Kayani said that the ongoing build-up of Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops along the Pak-Afghan border was a tactic to intensify that pressure.

“We have made it clear to the US that we will decide the timing of any such action according to our situation and capabilities. We have also told them that the problem lies within Afghanistan. If anyone convinces me that everything will be sorted out if we act in North Waziristan, I will take immediate action,” a parliamentarian, quoted Kayani as saying.

General Kayani’s statement came hours after senior Afghan defence officials said the country’s security forces and their NATO allies have launched a new push against the Haqqani network.

Leaving no ambiguity over reasons behind the operation, AFP quoted an Afghan defence ministry official that the action was tied to recent spats between Washington and Islamabad. While he declined to specify the operation’s scope, another senior official from the ministry said it was “largely against the Haqqani network”.

According to Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, the operation has been codenamed “Knife Edge” and was launched two days ago. “This operation has been launched along the border because the enemy has been lately operating along the border on both sides; sometimes on this side and sometimes on the other,” Afghan Chief of Army Staff Sher Mohammad Karimi said.

General Kayani said that Pakistan had spelled out its position on Afghanistan to the Obama administration in writing in 2010 and had asked the Americans to elaborate on their position but they had not done so. “We have long-term interests in Afghanistan, others might have short… For short-term gains, we cannot lose (sight of) our long-term interests,” Kayani said.

But responding to a question on Pakistan’s interests in Afghanistan, Kayani sought to dispel the perception that Pakistan was seeking so-called strategic depth in Afghanistan.

However, Kayani did not deny that Pakistani secret agencies maintained contacts with ‘certain elements’ within the hierarchy of Afghan insurgent groups. “That is where we get our information, the intelligence, from,” Kayani yielded. “The important thing is how we use the information gathered from these elements. You can do it positively and negatively.”

In a Press release issued by the military after a recent Corps Commanders’ meeting, Kayani is said to have stressed that the Pakistan Army does not need US aid and that he had told American officials that he means what he said.