US rejects Pakistan warnings on unilateral actions

Washington, May 20: Rejecting Pakistan's warnings that it would not allow more Abbottabad-like operations in its territory, the US has said that it will go after al-Qaeda leadership anywhere in the world if it had actionable intelligence on high value targets.

"We have made it clear to people around the world that if we locate someone who has been part of the al-Qaeda leadership, then you get him or we will get him," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

There is no change in the policy of the Obama administration to act unilaterally in the case of actionable intelligence for high value targets, she said, the CBS News reported.

"It should be sufficient to say that the US has made it clear from the very moment we were attacked and I remember it excruciatingly well because of my service as a senator in New York that we would go after those who had attacked us," she said, adding Osama bin Laden was America's our primary target and US President Barack Obama made a gutsy decision.

Clinton's statement gains significance as a day earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he has been promised by the US that there will be no more unilateral action in Pakistan.

"If there is any information about a high-value target, that information needs to be shared and there will be a joint operation," Gilani had said in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Clinton said her proposed visit to Pakistan depends on progress of on-going talks with Islamabad and response to the questions raised after the killing of bin Laden in Abbottabad early this month.

"Well, we'll see how the conversations go," Clinton told CBS, when asked when she is going to Pakistan.

Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, following his trip to Pakistan over the weekend wherein he had talks with the top Pak leadership had said that Clinton would soon travel to the country for substantial dialogue.

The Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mark Grossman, is currently travelling to Pakistan to hold talks with the Pakistani leadership and seeking answers from them on the questions raised and concerns post bin Laden.

"Marc Grossman, my special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is there now, following up on some of the areas of concern," Clinton said.

PTI