US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Monday that Pakistan would suffer “dire consequences” if it failed to “contain” terrorists operating from its soil, and it needed the US and Afghanistan to help get the job done. The Obama administration was not asking Pakistan’s military to occupy its rugged border regions, the base for extremist groups that attack US, allied and Afghan forces on the other side, Clinton said following two days of meetings in Islamabad.
There were “different ways of fighting besides overt military action”, she said. Clinton said she pressed Pakistan to fully share intelligence with US forces in Afghanistan to prevent attacks and choke off money and supply routes. Better coordination might prevent incidents like the September 20 assault on the US embassy in Kabul, which the US blamed on the Haqqani network, she said. “We can go after funding. We can go after couriers,’’ she said she had told Pakistani leaders. Clinton praised recent cooperation against al Qaeda as a model for how to crack down on the Haqqanis as well as the Taliban, based in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta. “Because of intelligence sharing and mutual cooperation, we have targeted three of the top al Qaeda operatives since bin Laden’s death. That could not have happened without Pakistani cooperation,” she said. Clinton said the US message to Pakistan was that the same insurgents who had launched lethal attacks against US and Afghan targets might unleash their violence inside Pakistan.
US-LED FORCE: Clinton said she urged Pakistan’s leaders to take advantage of the roughly 130,000-troop, US-led NATO force next door in Afghanistan while it was still there. The US and NATO have begun pulling out troops and plan to hand full security control to Afghanistan’s government by the end of 2014. In the coming months, forces from Pakistan and the coalition in Afghanistan should “squeeze” the Taliban and allied extremists, such as the Haqqani network, which operate on both sides of the border, she added.
“There’s no way that any government in Islamabad can control these groups,” Clinton said in the interview, conducted in Tajikistan as she wrapped up a seven-nation trip across the Mideast and south-central Asia.
There was an “opportunity, while we are still with 48 nations across the border in Afghanistan, where we have a lot of assets that we can put at their disposal” to help Pakistan.
The Pakistanis said they “have to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t cause chaos” in their country, she recounted. She said the US and Pakistan agreed on “90 to 95 percent of what needs to be done” and the two countries would work on what “next steps we take together”.
Asked if US troops in Afghanistan would launch cross-border attacks if Pakistan failed to act, Clinton replied: “There’s a lot going on that is aimed at these safe havens, and we will continue to work with them on that.”
Clinton also defended US efforts to encourage the Afghans and Pakistanis to seek negotiations to disarm militants. Reconciliation efforts have gone nowhere since Clinton announced the Obama administration’s support for talks early last year. A Taliban agent posing as a peace envoy assassinated Afghanistan’s chief peace negotiator, Burhanuddin Rabbani, on September 13.
Clinton said negotiations were “a bumpy process” requiring “patience and persistence that we’re willing to invest, in order to determine what’s real and what’s not”.
Come on Hillary, we are not afraid of your threats. And why should we be? Pakistan has given more sacrifices and suffered more in the losses of men and material compared with the combined losses of 49 NATO countries in fighting your created problem of menace os terrorism. So, HRClinton give these threats to some one else.
She just can't make up her mind. while she was in Pakistan she agreed to the army's strategy of Peace through talks. but as soon as she left she started with the threats. why are they so desparate to enter Pakistan. Our Government and Army knows that if they agreed to US terms and policies this time. It would be the end of there Era. People of Pakistan under no circumstances would want American Filth to come to Pakistan. And what about Mehsood Group? They are the lapdogs of USA then why don't they launch offense against them?
America lost 3,000 people on 9/11 and started what they call war against terrorism. Peanuts!!! We have lost more than 38,000 precious lives and they still have the guts to ask for more with threats. I wish if our people started paying taxes, we would not have to go round the world with begging.
Pakistanis seem to suffer from an dose of overestimation of their abilities and worth and foolishly arrogant. There is no denying the fact that Pakistan Govt (The people who control affairs of Pakistan) always involved in playing big games and live in a dreamland of their own. They had more unwritten agreements, proxywars, covert policies than any other third world country in the world. US was a part of that but, Pakistanis being what they are, were playing games within the games which outraged uncle Sam.
For sure Pakistan will come out of it but not without paying a price.
My Dear Harleen day dreaming is allowed to everyone even people such as you. let us go back in time and see what happened to uncle sam in the past. out of 4 wars including the war of japan how many did uncle sam win? unfortunately none. humiliation from Japan, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't enough?
As far as using militants as part of the statecraft goes, Pakistan has come to a dead-end…
America is only good when the war is not on the ground! After the bombing in 2001 when US Armed forces touched the ground they sunk in the war so deep that they couldn't manage otherwise. Now they are looking for reasons to blame it on somebody. so why not Pakistan. America knew that Taliban were created by CIA and Pakistan all together and it also knew that Pakistan holds deep sympathies for Taliban back in 2001 yet it choose to make him its ally. Reason? only one. we were and upto this time are beneficial to US. for Instance. in the morning Hillary Said Pakistan will face severe consicovences if it doesn't co-operate and now White House Spokeswoman said that There are no chances of War with Pakistan and We Wish to resolve this through Peace. And as you said that we over estimate. then my dear let me tell you something in case you forgot. Afghanistan is surrounded by Russia, China, Iran none of which are allies to US. in Case of War. the only supply line that goes through Pakistan will be cut off. then what would be the results?
In this new world it is economic clout that matters and not rhetoric. this is why the rest listen to China
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