News
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Clinton presses Pakistan for crackdown on Haqqanis* US official says Clinton discussed evidence of Pakistan government links with Haqqani network with Khar
NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Pakistan in 3-1/2 hours of talks on Sunday to attack the Haqqani network militant group Washington blames for a recent attack on the US embassy in Kabul, a senior US official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the issue of counterterrorism in general and the Haqqani network in particular were the first and last topics discussed by Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. The Haqqani network is one of three, and perhaps the most feared, of the Taliban-allied insurgent factions fighting US-led NATO and Afghan troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Insurgents in a bomb-laden truck occupied a building in Kabul on Tuesday, raining rockets and gunfire on the US embassy and other targets in the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital, and battled police during a 20-hour siege. Five Afghan police and 11 civilians were killed. “Obviously the issue of counterterrorism was both the first issue and the last issue on their agenda,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters, describing the meeting as “very substantial, very candid.”
A second senior US official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said it had always been Clinton’s plan to have two to three hours of talks with Khar to discuss US-Pakistan relations, which are marked by deep distrust. “What we said was that this is a huge problem and that Pakistan’s got to deal with it,” he added.
The US ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, told Radio Pakistan in blunt comments that aired on Saturday that “there is evidence linking the Haqqani network to the Pakistan government. This is something that must stop.” The senior US official suggested Clinton had discussed evidence of such links with Khar and also specific steps that Pakistan could take against the militant group but he offered no details.
Washington blames militants sheltering in Pakistan for violence in Afghanistan. Islamabad says its forces are taking heavy casualties fighting insurgents and bristles at any suggestion it provides support for fighters. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk