DUSHANBE, October 21, 2011, Asia-Plus — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Pakistan for talks on dismantling Taliban sanctuaries in the north of the country.
The BBC reported on October 20 that her aides say that she will personally deliver a blunt message from the Obama administration that Pakistan must step up its counter-terror efforts. Earlier in Kabul she called for a new partnership between the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight militants. She said Pakistan “must be part of the solution” to the Afghan conflict.
Mrs. Clinton”s visit to Pakistan comes at a time when relations between Washington and Islamabad are at their lowest point since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Washington has for many years urged Islamabad to deal with militants in the North Waziristan tribal area – especially the Haqqani network – who have been blamed for a series of recent attacks in Afghanistan.
According to the BBC, the verbal and military assault waged by the US against the network has intensified in recent months and comes amid heightened tension between the US-led coalition in Afghanistan and the Pakistani government.
Islamabad for its part was angered by the killing of Osama Bin Laden – apparently without its knowledge – by US Special Forces in May and is concerned about repeated US drone strikes against militant targets in its north-west.
Relations between the two countries were also strained after the killing of two Pakistanis in January by CIA contractor Raymond Davis in the city of Lahore.
Before leaving Kabul Mrs. Clinton urged the Taliban to be part of a peaceful future in Afghanistan or “face continuing assault”.
“We intend to push Pakistan very hard,” Mrs. Clinton said after talks with President Kara in Kabul. “They must rid their country of terrorists who kill their own people and who cross the border to kill in Afghanistan.”
The BBC reported yesterday that during meetings with Pakistan”s leadership Mrs. Clinton is expected to push for a military crackdown in North Waziristan.
This longstanding US demand has fallen on deaf ears in Pakistan, with the army chief signaling again on Wednesday that it would not be rushed into action.
The negotiations’ schedule included meetings with Pakistan”s civil and military leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Mrs. Clinton was accompanied by CIA chief Gen David Petraeus and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen Martin Dempsey.
Gen Ashfaq Kayani warned that the US that it would have to think “10 times” before taking any unilateral action in North Waziristan. He said that Washington should focus on stabilizing Afghanistan instead of pushing Pakistan to attack militant groups in the crucial border region.
Pakistan sees the Haqqanis as old allies who could protect its interests in the future Afghanistan, the BBC reporter says, and it will not take them on at a time when America prepares its exit from the region in 2014.
US officials have repeatedly suggested the Haqqanis are linked to Pakistan”s ISI intelligence services, a charge Pakistan denies.
“We will be looking to the Pakistanis to take the lead because the terrorists operating outside of Pakistan pose a threat to the Pakistanis as well as to others,” she said in Kabul.
“Our message is very clear: We are going to be fighting, we are going to be talking and we are going to be building… and they [militants] can either be helping or hindering but we are not going to stop.”
She said that reconciliation was possible in the region but it was necessary for insurgents to renounce violence and abandon al-Qaeda.
