Pakistan no more a safe destination for terrorism: US

Washington, Sept 21: US Military leaders on Wednesday (today) said that they will continue their pressure on Islamabad to prevent militants in Pakistan from conducting terror attacks in Afghanistan and then simultaneously withdrawing into a "safe haven". They said this without directly pointing at the Haqqani network for assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

"Our biggest concern right now is to put as much pressure as possible on the Pakistanis to exercise control from their side of the border," Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta said during a Pentagon news briefing with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Haqqani network is an independent insurgent group operating in Afghanistan that has close links with the Taliban. They are based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas. Haqqani has been a bigger threat to NATO and United State force in Afghanistan.

"We have continued to state that this cannot happen. We cannot have the Haqqanis coming across the border attacking our forces and (Afghans) and disappearing back into a safe haven," he said. "That is not tolerable, and we have urged them to take steps," Penetta added.

"Pakistan should deal with terrorists within their borders in their best interest. Frankly, terrorism is as much a threat for them as it is for us and we keep telling them you can't choose among terrorists. If you are against terrorism, you have to be against all forms of terrorism. And that is something we just have to continue to stress," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Earlier, in a meeting with Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Mullen had made it clear that Pakistan should do more to stop terrorism. Mullan also claimed that there is an existence of Haqqani's proxy ties to Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Admiral Mike Mullen said that, based on current inputs, they cannot blame Haqqani network behind the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

OneIndia News