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Clinton: Pakistan should do more against Haqqani network

October 27, 2011

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that Pakistan should do more to curb attacks by a militant network operating from its territory against international forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Clinton, speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pressed for Pakistan to take action against all extremists, but focused on the Haqqani network.

"In Islamabad last week, [Joint Chiefs Staff chairman] General [Martin] Dempsey, [CIA] Director [David] Petraeus, and I delivered a single, unified message: Pakistan's civilian and military leadership must join us in squeezing the Haqqani network from both sides of the border and in closing safe havens," Clinton said. "We underscored to our Pakistani counterparts the urgency of the task at hand, and we had detailed and frank conversations about the concrete steps both sides need to take."

U.S. officials say the Haqqani network enjoys support from Pakistan's military intelligence, the ISI, and has carried out anti-American attacks in Afghanistan.

But Clinton stopped short of linking action on the group to the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.

In Kabul, meanwhile, General Curtis Scaparrotti, the U.S. deputy commander in Afghanistan, today accused Pakistani forces of allowing insurgents to launch rocket and mortar attacks on U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan.

compiled from agency reports

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Topics: Militias,