US to continue pressing Pak to eliminate Haqqani terror network

Brasilia - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that she will continue to urge Pakistan to target the Haqqani network.

The decision came after a meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar regarding their shared responsibility to confront terrorists following co-ordinated attacks in Afghanistan.

Clinton and Khar “discussed the cowardly attacks in Afghanistan,” the statement said, adding, “(Clinton) underscored our shared responsibility for robust action ... to confront and defeat terrorists and violent extremists.”

Clinton also discussed the “next steps in the US-Pakistani dialogue”, a State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The Pentagon also issued a statement, saying the attacks in Afghanistan may have been carried out by Haqqani terrorists who operate from sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan.

“Initial indications are that the Haqqani network was involved in this set of attacks that occurred yesterday in Kabul,” The Daily Times quoted White House Press secretary George Little, as saying.

The 18-hour attack was “well-coordinated,” but Afghan security forces “did a very effective job” in quelling the onslaught, Little said. Afghan security forces took the lead in responding to the attack while NATO provided helicopters, he added.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari’s spokesman Senator Fahatullah Babar said the president had strongly condemned the terror attacks in Afghanistan and vowed that the people and government would continue to stand with their Afghanistan in their time of distress and difficulty.