The United States called on Pakistan on Friday to take action within “days and weeks” on dismantling Afghan militant havens and encouraging the Taliban into peace talks in order to end 10 years of war.
Crucially, secretary of state Hillary Clinton appeared to extract recognition from Pakistan that it could do more in clamping down on Afghan insurgents using Pakistani soil to attack Americans.
The top US diplomat spent Friday locked in talks with Pakistani leaders following a four-hour session late Thursday in Afghanistan. Accompanied by CIA director David Petraeus and the top US military officer general Martin Dempsey, she increased pressure on Pakistan to take concrete action but also sought to reassure Islamabad of long-term US support.
“We look to Pakistan to take strong steps to deny Afghan insurgents safe havens and to encourage the Taliban to enter negotiations in good faith,” said Clinton after talks with Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.The US was looking for operational action “over the next days and weeks, not months and years, but days and weeks,” emphasised Clinton. afp