As the escapees developed sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal belt, from where they were soon launching attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the pressure on Pakistan to use force to finish off these remnants of the fight grew. Pakistan claimed that it did not have the capacity to do so, and also implied that it was not in its strategic interest to turn all such groups into its enemies; it would need some of them to protect (and project) its interests in Afghanistan once foreign forces left the country.