The United States is safer today because of the cooperation it has received from Pakistan, a top White House official said on Saturday, maintaining that Washington’s relationship with Islamabad was important but complicated.
“The US and Pakistan are in an important relationship and it is complicated as I have said numerous times from the podium, but America and the Americans are safer because of the cooperation we have been able to achieve with Pakistan,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told a group of foreign correspondents. “It is important to remember that Pakistanis and Pakistan have been victims of al Qaeda, victims of all kinds of extremist terrorism, and we continue to pursue a relationship of cooperation and persistent as we continue to go after al Qaeda,” Carney said in response to a question.
Speaking ahead of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the White House spokesman said the administration had been very frank about the fact that affiliates of al Qaeda were an issue.
Musharraf justifies support for ‘war on terror’
KARACHI – On the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Pervaiz Musharraf, former President of Pakistan and chief of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) honored the victims of terrorist attacks and maintained that Pakistan too had sacrificed over 35,000 lives for its support of the war on terror.
In a statement issued from London on Saturday, Musharraf said that the decision to support the US and participate in the war against terrorism was the need of the hour and “had Pakistan not agreed to play a pivotal role in the US-led war, the country would have had to face the combined military might of US and India.”
Musharraf in his memoir “In the Line of Fire” has also mentioned that the US had threatened to “bomb Pakistan into the stone age” if it had not agreed to become its ally in the war against terrorists following the 9/11 attacks. Staff Report