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Monday, July 09, 2012Put pressure on Haqqani network, US tells Pakistan
* Clinton tells Khar relationship with Pakistan will continue to raise hard questions
* Says both countries have managed to ‘put the recent difficulties behind them’
TOKYO: The United States on Sunday pressed Pakistan to pressure into talks the Haqqani network, which it blames for attacks on US targets in Afghanistan.
During their one-hour meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to put pressure on the Haqqani network, said a senior US official, who acknowledged that it was unclear whether Pakistan would step up its counter-terrorism efforts. “In terms of counterterrorism, my answer is we’ll see,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“In many ways, the fact that the (land routes) were closed was getting in the way of a lot of conversation with Pakistan. Now that (they) are open, we have an opportunity, it seems to me, to go back into business with them and counter-terrorism is one of those areas. So, we’ll see,” he added.
Speaking after she met Khar, Clinton said both were encouraged they had “put the recent difficulties behind us” but she acknowledged the difficulties in the relationship in blunt terms.
The US-Pakistan relationship remained challenging for both despite the reopening of Pakistani land routes to resupply US troops in Afghanistan, Clinton said.
“I have said many times that this is a challenging but essential relationship. It remains so. And I have no reason to believe it will not continue to raise hard questions for us both,” She told a news conference in Tokyo, where both officials attended an Afghan donors’ conference. “But it is something that I think is in the interests of the United States as well as in the interests of Pakistan.”
Clinton said that the top issue she discussed with Khar was “the necessity of defeating the terror networks that threaten the stability of both Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as interests of the United States” and its allies.
She last week apologised for a November NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and Islamabad responded by reopening the overland supply routes that are crucial to the US-led war in Afghanistan. The supply route deal removed one headache, but ties are likely to remain strained by other differences.
After their bilateral talks, Clinton and Khar both met Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasul, smiling and laughing as they staged a three-way handshake for photographers.
The three issued a statement that emphasised their desire for terrorists to lay down their arms and enter reconciliation talks with the Afghan government. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk