The United States should focus on defeating militant enemies inside Afghanistan instead of blaming Pakistan for its failure, Pakistani officials said on Monday.
Washington accused Pakistan on Saturday of having links to the Haqqani network, which Washington blames for an attack on the US embassy and other targets in Kabul, and said the government in Islamabad must cut those ties.
“Whenever big attacks in Kabul or elsewhere in Afghanistan take place this blame game starts,” a senior military official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
“Instead of blaming us, they should take action against terrorists on their side of the border.”
In blunt remarks, the US ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, told Radio Pakistan there was evidence linking the Haqqanis to the Islamabad government.
Washington has long blamed militants sheltering in Pakistan for violence in Afghanistan. Islamabad says its forces are taking high casualties fighting insurgents and bristles at any suggestion it provides support for fighters.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned the government last week the US would “do everything we can” to defend US forces from Pakistan-based militants staging attacks in Afghanistan.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Pakistan in 3-1/2 hours of talks on Sunday to attack the Haqqani network, a senior US official said.
The official said the issue of counter-terrorism in general and the Haqqani network, in particular, were the first and last topics discussed by Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
“They (the Americans) say militants come from Pakistan but they travel up to Kabul and no one arrests them all the way to Kabul. It is their responsibility (to arrest them there) not ours,” said the senior military official.
The allies recently spoke of strong counter-terrorism cooperation, suggesting they had put behind them bitterness over the unilateral raid that killed bin Laden.
But Munter indicated ties with Pakistan, which relies on billions of dollars of US aid, were still heavily strained.
“These relations today need a lot of work,” he said.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told Reuters the two sides needed to work towards a “friction-free relationship”.
“Any perceptional differences warrant deeper engagement and that is taking place,” she said.
Ties between Washington and Islamabad are often uneasy. The Haqqani network is one of the most divisive issues.
“Terrorism and extremism are a much bigger threat to Pakistan than to the United States,” said Mahmud Ali Durrani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States.
