By
Media Monitor Desk
Washington: The US wants to continue to work
to put its relationship with Pakistan on a stronger footing,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
At the same time, she said, the Obama
administration would like to have an end to safe heavens in
Pakistan. She, however, appeared to tone down tempers between
the two countries which has reached a new peak after Admiral
Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a
Congressional Committee that the Haqqani network is a veritable
arm of Pakistani spy agency ISI.
"I would certainly urge people to look at the
entirety of Admiral Mullen’s testimony. He did raise serious
questions, which our government has raised with the Pakistanis
about the continuing safe haven for terrorists that strike
across the border in Afghanistan against Afghans, Americans,
NATO, ISAF troops, civilians working there, as well as within
Pakistan."
"But Admiral Mullen also said that this is a
very critical consequential relationship. We have a lot of
interests that are in common, most particularly the fight
against terrorism," Hillary argued.
"So we are certainly making clear that we
want to see an end to safe havens and any kind of support from
anywhere for terrorists inside Pakistan, and we also want to
continue to work to put our relationship on a stronger footing,"
Hillary told reporters at a joint press availability with
visiting Nigerian Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru.
Hillary said Uzbekistan has been very helpful
to us with respect to the Northern Distribution Network.
"They have also been helpful with Afghanistan
in terms of reconstruction. They are deeply involved in
assisting Afghans and the Afghan Government to try to rebuild
and make Afghanistan a more prosperous, peaceful country," she
said.
"We believe that our continuing dialogue with
officials of the government is essential. It always raises, as I
have and as others from our government continue to do so, our
concerns about human rights and political freedoms," she said.
"But at the same time we are working with the
Uzbeks to make progress, and we are seeing some signs of that,
and we would clearly like to deepen our relationship on all
issues," Hillary said.
