Pakistan has to close down militant safe havens: reiterates Hillary Clinton

Pakistan has to close down militant safe havens: reiterates Hillary Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday, October 27 renewed her call for Pakistan to close militant safe havens, saying the uneasy partner must be “unequivocal” in its approach. 

Testifying before Congress after a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Clinton said she delivered a “frank” message to Pakistan that it was urgent that action against the extremist Haqqani network be taken, which she blamed for anti-US attacks in Afghanistan.

 “I explained that trying to distinguish between so-called good terrorists and bad terrorists is ultimately self-defeating and dangerous,” Clinton told the Foreign Affairs Committee.

According to the Secretary of State no one who targets innocent civilians of any nationality should be tolerated or protected.

“We look to Pakistan to encourage the Taliban and other insurgents to participate in an Afghan peace process in good faith – both through unequivocal public statements and by closing off the safe havens,” she added.

Clinton used unusually strong language on last week’s trip, saying that US tolerance has worn thin after indications that the Haqqani network is targeting Americans, including through a 19-hour siege of the US embassy in Kabul.

The top US diplomat supported the assessment of the outgoing US military chief, Admiral Mike Mullen, who last month said that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

During Clinton’s visit, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that both her country and Afghanistan can do more against militants but denied any official support for the Haqqani network.

Surprisingly, while in Pakistan, Clinton admitted that the US itself had made attempts to hold talks with the Haqqani network, even had held a meeting with them. At the end of her trip to Pakistan, she stressed that Pakistan must broker talks between the
US and the Haqqani network.

Pakistan, once the primary backer of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, switched sides to join the United States in its military campaign after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=1790

Posted by Ammar Ahmad on Oct 27 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry