US calls Yemen to combat terrorism

Sanaa, Jan 12: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Yemen on Tuesday, Jan 11, and spent three hours with Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh at his presidential palace in Sanaa. The prime motive behind this visit is to urge Yemen to step up security cooperation with the US to battle terrorism. This visit is expected to strengthen the relationship between the two nations.

Clinton is the first US secretary of state to visit Yemen in last two decades. Abdallah Saleh said that Clinton's visit to Yemen was historic.

Clinton said, “I wanted the relationship between Yemen and the US to be more broad-based."

"We are committed to a balanced approach towards Yemen which includes social, economic, political assistance - the type that helps deal with all the problems Yemen is facing," she said.

"To that end we have rebalanced our aid package so that it is not so disproportionately consisting of the funding necessary for the counter-terrorism agenda but also includes these other priorities," she added.

Hillary Clinton said, "We face a common threat posed by the terrorists and al-Qaida, but our partnership goes beyond counter-terrorism. We're focused not just on short-term threats but long-term challenges."

“I want to be frank about the fact that there are terrorists operating from Yemeni territory today, many of whom are not Yemeni, some of whom, I am sorry to say, are Americans," Clinton said. She added "Stopping such threats would be a priority for any nation, and it is a priority for the United States. It is also a priority for Yemen."

OneIndia News