US presses Pak to act against LeT, Haqqani

Washington: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pressed her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar to take strong action against terrorist groups especially Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Haqqani network, during their 3-1/2 hours of "very candid" meeting.

The meeting in New York, which was earlier scheduled for only 30 minutes, was dominated by counter-terrorism issues.

"Obviously, the issue of counter-terrorism was both the first issue and the last issue on their agenda," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said about the meeting that took place on Tuesday.

Both Clinton and Khar are in New York to attend the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Khar has come in place of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who cancelled his trip to the US at the last minute, after reportedly failing to seal a meeting with US President Barack Obama.

The official reason for his skipping the crucial UN meet was the floods back home.

US officials said Clinton sought specific action from Pakistan against the Haqqani network, which the US now believes was behind the September 13 attack on its Embassy in Kabul.

US officials, however, would not say if Clinton shared any intelligence about such a link, but it was clearly evident that concrete evidences were provided to Khar during the meeting, said to be one of the longest meetings of Clinton with any of her foreign counterparts.

A senior State Department official told reporters after the meeting that "They (Pakistan) understand that the threat that the Haqqanis pose to them, and I think they recognise it's time for them to take action."

"We were specific about the need for Pakistan to take action on the Haqqani Network," the official added.

"The attacks in Kabul on the 13th of September changed the nature of the meeting. Although it still lasted a good long time and we did review the whole nature of our relationship, that as you heard before, the issue of counterterrorism and particularly the issue of the Haqqani network was, as you can imagine, the first thing on the Secretary's agenda and also the last," said the official.

The US had earlier said it had evidence linking the Pakistani government to the Haqqani network, which has been using the country as a base to launch attack on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Khar, according to the State Department official, was quite clear in return that Pakistan "couldn't condemn more" the attacks of the September 13 on the US.

Responding to questions, the official said LeT was part of this conversation between Clinton and Khar.

"The Pakistani side talked to us about the continuing threat from the TTP on Pakistanis. We talked also about the Taliban, safe havens and enablers that allow them to attack inside of Afghanistan," the official said.

"I hope what we achieved was, first and foremost, clarity on the need to do something about counter-terrorism and specifically about the Haqqanis, and secondly, that it is possible for the United States and Pakistan to work together to identify those interests that we have in common and then figure out how to act on them together," the official said.

The official said Clinton herself wanted a long meeting with her Pakistani counterpart so that she could discuss where the relationship was headed particularly after the attack on the US Embassy in Kabul.