Pakistan can’t fight terror war alone: Kerry

US State Dept terms Haqqani Network still threat to regional security

NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said Pakistan had made progress in the fight against extremism in recent months but urged Islamabad to push harder against militants hiding within its borders as tensions with neighbouring India rise amid more violence in the disputed region of held Kashmir.

“It is clear that Pakistan has work to do in order to push harder against its indigenous groups that are engaged in extremist activities,” Kerry said on Wednesday, the second day of a visit to India.

Kerry said the United States had made it clear to Islamabad that it needs to act against groups such as the Taliban-linked Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Taiba that are suspected of operating from Pakistan to launch attacks against its neighbours India and Afghanistan. Terrorist groups are great threat to neighbouring countries and Pakistan cannot alone deal with this war, he added. “In fairness, the Pakistanis have suffered greatly from terrorism in their own country,” Kerry said. “All of us need to be supportive and also understanding of how difficult it is to take it on step by step.” Without elaborating, he added: “I believe that progress is being made and the Pakistanis are moving at a greater pace.”

The United States accuses the Pakistani intelligence agency of supporting the Haqqani militants and using them as a proxy in Afghanistan to gain leverage there against the growing influence of India there. Pakistan denies this.

The Pakistan Army has launched military operations in the troubled North Waziristan region, which is said to be the base of the Haqqani group.

Kerry said on Tuesday that Islamabad should not feel isolated by fresh talks that are planned between the United States, India and Afghanistan next month in New York. —Reuters

INP adds: Meanwhile, US State Department Spokesman John Kirby has said that the Haqqani Network is still a threat to regional security and the Pentagon is fully aware of this threat.

Addressing a news briefing in Washington on Wednesday, he said the US and India have good relations and the US wants India to keep playing its role in Afghanistan.

He said that the Haqqani Network and other terrorist outfits which continued to exist in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region were a threat for peace and stability of the entire region. He further said that United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s statements as well as the words of Pentagon were not in conflict with each other.

On the subject of Haqqani Network, he said the US authorities were in contact with Pakistani government officials.

In response to a question, Kirby said that he was not aware of any recent contact established between John Kerry and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or the army chief General Raheel Sharif.