Washington: A senior US administrative official has said that Pakistan’s military and political leadership have assured action against Haqqani group.
According to the official, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani and President Asif Ali Zardari have assured the US Secretary of State during her recent visit to Pakistan that Islamabad is ready to push and squeeze the terrorists, including Haqqanis to bring them on a negotiating table.
“During her October 20-21 visit to Kabul and Islamabad, Clinton pressured Pakistani leaders to take military action against the Haqqani network in hide-outs along the Afghan border”, he said.
“We think that Pakistan, for a variety of reasons, has the capacity to encourage, to push, to squeeze … terrorists, including the Haqqanis and the Afghan Taliban, to be willing to engage in the peace process,” she said October 21 in Islamabad.
The US official was unrevealing when asked if Pakistan had moved against the Haqqani group, which some Western officials believe may have been behind a suicide bombing Sunday in Kabul that killed 13 foreigners, since Clinton’s visit.
“We continue to work very, very closely with them and Gen. Kayani and the civilian leadership have committed … to undertaking actions and assisting in squeezing,” he said, referring to Pakistani Army Chief.
“Clinton was quite clear that we all need to see physical signs of progress as a matter of some urgency, in days and weeks, as she noted, as opposed to months and years,” he added. “We are continuing to follow up through all of our channels of communication — on the military, intelligence and diplomatic fronts.”
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