United States Vice President Joe Biden told Cable News Network (CNN) in an interview set to air in full on Monday night that Pakistan had been an unreliable ally of the US in the war against al Qaeda and other extremist organisations. Biden, who spoke to CNN’s John King on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, said Pakistan had failed “on occasion” when forced to choose between the US and al Qaeda.
The price of Pakistan’s choices had been the “loss of life of American soldiers in Afghanistan”, the vice president said. Islamabad had “been very helpful in other times”, he added. “But it’s not sufficient. They have to get better. We need a relationship that is born out of mutual interest. And it’s in their interest that they be more cooperative with us,” Biden told CNN. “We are demanding it,” he added.
Biden said despite troubles in Pakistan and elsewhere, the United States was “getting close” to bringing about an end to organised, legitimised terrorist activities. “We have done great damage to… al Qaeda,” he said. “Satellite organisations” had emerged in Somalia and elsewhere, he said, but “they are less coordinated” and “less capable.”