Recognising Pakistan’s efforts to enforce the law and fight terrorists in its remote border areas with Afghanistan, President George W Bush on Tuesday said the United States was supporting the country’s fight against violent extremism in that region.
“One of the most important challenges we will face, and you will face, in the years ahead is helping our partners assert control over ungoverned spaces,” Bush said in a speech at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.
“This problem is most pronounced in Pakistan, where areas along the Afghanistan border are home to Taliban and to al-Qaeda fighters. The Pakistani government and people understand the threat, because they have been victims of terror themselves. They’re working to enforce the law and fight terror in the border areas. And our government is providing strong support for these efforts.
“And at the same time,” he said, “we have made it clear to Pakistan — and to all our partners — that we will do what is necessary to protect American troops and the American people.”
In his speech, Bush said: “We have made clear that governments that sponsor terror are as guilty as the terrorists — and will be held to account. After 9/11, we applied the doctrine to Afghanistan. We removed the Taliban from power.
“We shut down training camps where al-Qaeda planned the attacks on our country. We
liberated more than 25 million Afghans.Now America and our 25 Nato allies and 17 partner nations are standing with the Afghan people as they defend their free society. The enemy is determined, the terrain is harsh, and the battle is difficult. But our coalition will stay in this fight. We will not let the Taliban or al-Qaeda return to power. And Afghanistan will never again be a safe haven for terrorists.
“From Iraq and Afghanistan to Lebanon and Pakistan, voters defied the terrorists to cast their ballots in free elections,” he said. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lauded Pakistan’s “serious steps” against militants. “We’re not yet able to confirm a lot of what we are reading about arrests and about action against the camps, but these are serious steps, and we are pleased at what appears to be a serious set of steps.
“And I want to emphasise, Pakistan is doing this in its own interest as well, because Pakistan has suffered greatly from terrorism. And of course, President (Asif Ali) Zardari lost his great wife, Benazir Bhutto, to the terrorists,” she told CBS News Radio.
Rice said non-state actors were behind the Mumbai incident and concurred that the perpetrators wanted to ignite a standoff between Pakistan and India. “Well, their first goal was probably to stir up trouble between Pakistan and India, largely because these terrorists are undoubtedly unnerved by the increasingly good relations between Pakistan and India, really going back before the civilian government but certainly since President Zardari and Prime Minister (Yousuf Raza) Gilani came into power.
“In fact, the Pakistani foreign minister was actually in India for a strategic dialogue during when this attack took place. And so clearly, those who want to disrupt good relations between India and Pakistan were at root.
“It has the side benefit, of course, of making certain that Pakistan remains focused on the old conflict with India and Pakistan, which I believe can be resolved effectively between the parties, rather than on the real threat to Pakistan and Pakistan’s neighbours, which is the terrorist threat”.
The top US diplomat said the Washington has made it clear that it “understood that this was a civilian government in Pakistan, a new civilian government that wants to do the right thing. And in fact, I believe they’ve begun to do some of the right things,” she added. Rice saw no linkage between the Mumbai episode and al-Qaeda.
“Nobody is making a claim here that al-Qaida is responsible for these attacks or that perhaps they were even involved in them in any way — I don’t know that it was to take pressure off al-Qaida, but clearly, if Pakistan cannot focus on what is the real threat to Pakistan, which is the terrorist threat, and remains focused on a state-to-state threat that is beginning to subside, then it benefits the terrorists.
“And I believe that the Pakistani Government understands that, the Pakistani military understands that. And this is a very important moment for Pakistan to respond, and that’s why we’re gratified that clearly some response has been made.”
Also, Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has commended Pakistan’s “great steps” to curb militancy, saying Islamabad has a real appreciation for seriousness of the terrorism threat. “I can tell you that in Pakistan, as well, I sensed a real appreciation for both the seriousness of the attacks and the growing threats of terrorism inside their own borders,” Mullen told a Pentagon news conference on Wednesday.
“I’m encouraged by the news out of Islamabad that the Pakistani military has captured and detained several militants, including a key leader of the LeT group. These are great steps. I certainly hope and expect there will be more such steps taken by Pakistani authorities in the near future,” he added.
He noted the Pakistanis have “moved pretty quickly with respect to these arrests — and all of that, I think, is very positive. And I applaud the efforts thus far that the Pakistani government has taken”.
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