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Pak realises need to go beyond S. Waziristan:
Hillary By Anwar Iqbal
Wednesday, 11 Nov, 2009
The militants has created a syndicate of interconnected terrorist groups and that’s why the Pakistanis needed to be vigilant.
Nine militants killed in South Waziristan clashes Nine militants killed in South Waziristan clashes
WASHINGTON: The United States believes that Pakistan understands the need to go beyond South Waziristan and maintain pressure on militants in other areas too, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In four separate interviews to US and German media outlets, Secretary Clinton said that while the rulers in Islamabad might not know where the Al Qaeda leaders were hiding, people at lower levels did.
In her characteristic openness, Mrs Clinton also conceded America’s responsibility in creating the terrorist networks that came back to haunt it and acknowledged that the United States also had a share in creating the trust deficit that marred US-Pakistan relations.
‘Well, I don’t want to speak for them. They’ve got their hands full right now in South Waziristan,’ she said when asked if Pakistan was ready to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan as well.
‘But they understand too that you can’t just play Whack-A-Mole. You can’t just knock down the Taliban somewhere and expect you’re done.’
The militants, she said, had created a syndicate of interconnected terrorist groups and that’s why the Pakistanis needed to be vigilant.
Secretary Clinton also pointed to a positive change in Pakistan, noting that the people of Pakistan were much more in favour of what the army was doing now than at any point in the past.
During her recent visit to Pakistan, the secretary had said that she found it difficult to believe that nobody in the Pakistani government knew where Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders were.
When reminded of her statement in one of the interviews, Mrs Clinton repeated her claim but said that ‘there is no evidence that anybody in the government at the top levels knows’.
In another interview, she said the United States had ‘a good working relationship’ with the Pakistani intelligence at the highest levels.
But, she said, a government included thousands of lower-level people all of whom were not always loyal to the government.
‘Every so often, we (in the US) uncover somebody who’s a traitor. We uncover somebody who is selling classified information or giving it to an agency of another country,’ she said.
‘And there are thousands of people in that (Pakistani) government. And I would like to see a real effort made on the part of the top leadership to make sure that no one down the ranks is doing anything to give any kind of support or cover-up to the Al Qaeda leadership.’
The top US diplomat acknowledged that the Pakistanis had reasons for not trusting America’s commitment to the bilateral relationship.
‘We haven’t always been the most consistent or understanding partner and ally over the course of our relationship. And we do bear some of the responsibility, frankly, for helping to create the very terrorists that we’re now all threatened by,’ she said.
She said that during her visit she heard lots of complaints against the US, dispelled some of the myths and the stereotyping that went on.
Hillary By Anwar Iqbal
Wednesday, 11 Nov, 2009
The militants has created a syndicate of interconnected terrorist groups and that’s why the Pakistanis needed to be vigilant.
Nine militants killed in South Waziristan clashes Nine militants killed in South Waziristan clashes
WASHINGTON: The United States believes that Pakistan understands the need to go beyond South Waziristan and maintain pressure on militants in other areas too, says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In four separate interviews to US and German media outlets, Secretary Clinton said that while the rulers in Islamabad might not know where the Al Qaeda leaders were hiding, people at lower levels did.
In her characteristic openness, Mrs Clinton also conceded America’s responsibility in creating the terrorist networks that came back to haunt it and acknowledged that the United States also had a share in creating the trust deficit that marred US-Pakistan relations.
‘Well, I don’t want to speak for them. They’ve got their hands full right now in South Waziristan,’ she said when asked if Pakistan was ready to launch a military offensive in North Waziristan as well.
‘But they understand too that you can’t just play Whack-A-Mole. You can’t just knock down the Taliban somewhere and expect you’re done.’
The militants, she said, had created a syndicate of interconnected terrorist groups and that’s why the Pakistanis needed to be vigilant.
Secretary Clinton also pointed to a positive change in Pakistan, noting that the people of Pakistan were much more in favour of what the army was doing now than at any point in the past.
During her recent visit to Pakistan, the secretary had said that she found it difficult to believe that nobody in the Pakistani government knew where Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders were.
When reminded of her statement in one of the interviews, Mrs Clinton repeated her claim but said that ‘there is no evidence that anybody in the government at the top levels knows’.
In another interview, she said the United States had ‘a good working relationship’ with the Pakistani intelligence at the highest levels.
But, she said, a government included thousands of lower-level people all of whom were not always loyal to the government.
‘Every so often, we (in the US) uncover somebody who’s a traitor. We uncover somebody who is selling classified information or giving it to an agency of another country,’ she said.
‘And there are thousands of people in that (Pakistani) government. And I would like to see a real effort made on the part of the top leadership to make sure that no one down the ranks is doing anything to give any kind of support or cover-up to the Al Qaeda leadership.’
The top US diplomat acknowledged that the Pakistanis had reasons for not trusting America’s commitment to the bilateral relationship.
‘We haven’t always been the most consistent or understanding partner and ally over the course of our relationship. And we do bear some of the responsibility, frankly, for helping to create the very terrorists that we’re now all threatened by,’ she said.
She said that during her visit she heard lots of complaints against the US, dispelled some of the myths and the stereotyping that went on.