US offers all out help for Malala Yousufzai

Washington - The US has offered all help to 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani activist who continues to be in a critical condition after being shot by the Taliban for speaking out against extremists and backing women's rights.

"President Barack Obama and his press secretary Jay Carney were pretty explicit about what we have proposed and offered," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday. Yousufzai, who is now in a hospital in Rawalpindi, was shot in the head by the Taliban Tuesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"But my understanding is that the Pakistanis have not come back to us with any specific requests," she said when asked about the US offer to provide all means for the transportation and medical treatment for Malala.

The US, she said, was in contact with the Pakistani side in the wake of attack on Malala.

White House had talked about stepping up efforts against terrorism with Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar when she came to the US just a couple of weeks ago, she said in response to a question.

"We have an intense counterterrorism relationship. We would like to do even more together," Nuland said.

"We're continuing to try to work on these issues and encourage our Pakistani partners to do as much as they can against these issues, because Pakistanis are the greatest victims of terror inside their own country," Nuland added.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for targeting Malala, who enraged the militant group by writing about extremists who used fear and intimidation to force girls to stay at home instead of going to school.

Malala's online writing earned her Pakistan's first National Peace Prize.