Toronto, January 17: After US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton hinting at the possibility of American forces pursuing terrorists inside Pakistan if she is elected, Canadian opposition leader Stephane Dion has also called for "intervention" in Pakistan if the war on terror were to succeed.

Hinting at NATO action inside Pakistan, Dion, who is the leader of the Liberal Party which is eyeing power in the next elections likely this year, said Wednesday that the NATO-led mission against the Taliban in Afghanistan would not succeed unless terrorists were denied entry from Pakistan.

Dion, who has just returned after a two-day Afghanistan visit to take stock of the Canadian combat mission around Kandahar, said NATO could be forced to take action inside Pakistan if the Musharraf government failed to stop entry of terrorists into Afghanistan. "We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan," Dion said.

He said during his trip to Afghanistan he was told by the Afghan leadership about the terrorist hideouts in Pakistan. The porous border with Pakistan was hampering the war on terror in Afghanistan as the Taliban and Al Qaeda slipped into the tribal, inaccessible areas of Pakistan under duress, Dion remarked. "As long as we don't solve the problem in Pakistan, I don't see how we can solve it in Afghanistan," he said.

Dion added: "One day, we are going to have to act because our soldiers are cleaning out some areas, but in fact very often they are only clean in principle. The insurgents go take refuge in Pakistan and they are going to come back (to Afghanistan) at the earliest opportunity. This could last very long if we don't tackle the problems that often originate from Pakistan."

Canada has 2,500 troops on combat duty in and around Kandahar. The mission is up for renewal before it ends in February 2009. Because of the mounting death toll and costs, Canadians overwhelmingly want their troops back home. So far 77 Canadians have lost their lives in the mission that has cost the country more than a billion dollars.

Dion and his Liberal party want Canada to end the combat mission. They want the country to stay put but with a reduced number of troops who should be assigned to non-combat roles such as training Afghan forces and development.