Pakistan is an ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism and has been under pressure from Washington to intensify efforts to root out extremists blamed for launching attacks on coalition forces across the border in Afghanistan.

VOA: standard.2009.12.11

"You are going to see an uplift of forces come in and I think you'll start to see this tightening ring of security in and around Kandahar city that I think will then provide the security bubble for governance to start to take in and development to start to take root in Kandahar city."

VOA: standard.2010.05.26