KABUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday once again
askED Pakistan to act against so-called militants havens in Pakistan.
A
major offensive is under way against Haqqani militants in eastern
Afghanistan and Pakistan must act to remove safe havens on its side of
the border, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday.
"We
are taking action against the Haqqanis. There was a major military
operation inside Afghanistan in recent days," she told a joint news
conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai."It continues. That has
been rounding up and eliminating Haqqani operatives on this side of the
border," she added.
The top US diplomat also said there was an
"international effort to squeeze the Haqqani with their funding and
other aspects of their operations".The United States recently accused
the Haqqanis of orchestrating a 19-hour siege of the US embassy in
Kabul, a September truck bombing on a NATO outpost that wounded 77
Americans and a June attack on Kabul s InterContinental hotel.
Clinton
confirmed that the United States believes the network operates out of a
"safe haven in Pakistan"."And now it s a question as to how much
cooperation Pakistanis will provide in going after those safe havens,"
she added. Clinton is later Thursday due in Pakistan, where she is to be
joined by CIA chief David Petraeus and top US military officer Martin
Dempsey."We intend to push the Pakistanis very hard as to what they are
willing and able to do with us... to remove the safe havens and the
continuing threats across the border to Afghans," said Clinton.
Washington
last month escalated pressure on Pakistan to crack down on the Haqqani
network, with the then military chief Admiral Mike Mullen accusing
Pakistani intelligence of involvement in the embassy siege.
US
commanders say the Haqqanis are their most potent enemy in eastern
Afghanistan and increasingly capable of launching high-profile attacks
in Kabul. It is an Afghan Taliban faction, loyal to Taliban leader
Mullah Omar. Afghan Defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak had said
"Operation Knife Edge" was launched earlier this week, confirmed by a
senior defence ministry official to be "largely against the Haqqani
network". Online
