U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated a call on Pakistan to attack Taliban and Haqqani enclaves in North Waziristan, stepping up pressure after the country’s top general told the United States that it will deal with militants in the province on its own terms.
Clinton delivered remarks in Pakistan and in Afghanistan that were intended to up the ante on Pakistan to defeat the Taliban and its ally, the Haqqani network, both of which have a strong presence in North Waziristan.
The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan must “resume their dialogue,” and both take responsibility for ferreting out militants who have found “safe havens in Pakistan,” Clinton said at a press conference with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
“We want a very clear message to the insurgents on both sides of the border that we are going to fight you and we are going to seek you in your safe havens, whether you’re on the Afghan side or the Pakistani side,” Clinton said.
On Tuesday, Pakistani top Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, said that Pakistan would act in the province in its own time and that the United States should be wary of taking unilateral action in North Waziristan.
“If we need to take action, we will do it on our schedule and according to our capacity,” he said, adding that American troops had better “think 10 times before” crossing the Afghan border. Kayani said the United States should focus on militants in Afghanistan before approaching Pakistan.
However, Clinton essentially dismissed Kayani’s statement and said Pakistan still needs to take the lead in dealing with its homegrown militants.
“We’re going to be expecting the Pakistanis to support the efforts at talking. We believe they can play either a constructive or a destructive role in helping” to end years of fighting in Afghanistan, she said.
The Haqqani network have carried out a series of high profile attacks in Afghanistan, including a siege last month on the American Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul. Taliban militants have also claimed responsibility for high-level attacks such as the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was the country’s top peace negotiator.
In recent months, after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, relations between the United States and Pakistan have been strained, with the White House accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to pursue militants within its own borders. Pakistan also expressed anger over how the United States handled the raid on bin Laden’s compound.
Clinton also warned the Taliban that it has only two choices: face military action or reconciliation.
“Our message is very clear: We’re going to be fighting, we’re going to [be] talking, and we’re going to be building,” Clinton said bluntly. “And they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop our efforts to create a strong foundation” on which to build a nation in Afghanistan.
Over the past several months, the Taliban has dismissed attempts for peace talks made by the United States and Afghanistan, saying that there will be no reconciliation until foreign troops leave the country.
But as Clinton noted, there “there is no military solution” and “there must be an agreed-upon path forward” to reach a peace settlement before the United States and NATO withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
