Describing militant groups operating in Pakistan as a "threat" to the world, the US has asked Islamabad to cooperate with India in probing the Mumbai attack and try to get to the bottom of the terror network to dismantle them completely.
The extremist groups in Pakistan are a threat to the country, a threat to the neighbourhood, and "as we saw in Mumbai, a threat to Americans and Indians and people of many other nationalities," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said in Beijing last week, according to a transcript released by the State Department on Thursday.
He said besides preliminary investigation, Pakistan should try to get to the bottom of the terror network operating in the country.
"I think it's important to see that they have picked up some of the leaders of the organisation. I think it's going to be important to see that they push through that to the end in terms of eliminating the capability of the organisation to launch attacks from Pakistani soil," Boucher said. On how China should use its influence to bring Pakistan to fully cooperate in the Mumbai attacks probe and its aftermath, he said this is better left to Beijing, which also favours eliminating terror groups from Pakistan. "In terms of the Chinese and how they use their influence, it's really something I have to leave to China to explain, discuss. What I found in my consultations today is we have very similar goals.
"We don't want to see Pakistani territory used to conduct terrorist attacks. We don't want to see groups be able to go in and out of Pakistan and go elsewhere to perpetuate terrorism in the region," Boucher added.
{{/usCountry}}"We don't want to see Pakistani territory used to conduct terrorist attacks. We don't want to see groups be able to go in and out of Pakistan and go elsewhere to perpetuate terrorism in the region," Boucher added.
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