SYDNEY: Australia said Pakistan must do more to counter terrorism, but
cautioned against jumping to conclusions over Islamabad’s efforts to track down
Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan is under intense pressure to explain how the Al-Qaeda chief could
live within walking distance of the country’s key officer training academy in
Abbottabad without the knowledge of senior officials.
As US commandos swooped on Bin Laden’s compound this week, the chairman of
Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, was in
Australia for top-level defence and security talks.
The visit was hosted by Australian defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus
Houston as part of defence talks between the two nations, and included meetings
with heads of national security agencies. Australia is one of Pakistan’s biggest
providers of military training.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who met with Wynne, said Bin Laden’s death
was on the agenda.
“General Wynne, like President Zardari, was pleased that Bin Laden had been
captured and killed,” Smith told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“I think we have to be careful not to leap to conclusions about state
sponsorship or the efforts made in Pakistan to trace down Bin Laden,” he added
when asked if the issue had been raised. Nevertheless, Mr Smith told Mr Wynne
more must be done to tackle extremism and terrorism in Pakistan.
“We believe that Pakistan has improved its efforts on the counter-terrorism
and extremism front, but it does need to do more and I have made that point
again to General Wynne,” he said. “But if we want Pakistan to do more on that
front, there’s no point in Australia, there’s no point in the United States,
there’s no point in the international community walking away.” Online
