US believes in Pakistans sovereignty: Clinton

United States on Friday said it strongly believed in Pakistan’s sovereignty and security and would continue to work with it on eliminating terrorism by targeting safe havens along the Pak-Afghan border. “I agree with General Kayani’s statement that Pakistan is not Afghanistan, not Iraq. Pakistan is a sovereign nation,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, at Foreign Office here. Clinton who in her two-day visit to Islamabad held talks with Pakistan’s leadership said the United States was looking forward to operationalize this discussion, “not in months but days”.“We consider working with Pakistan as a very right thing to do and we need the momentum going.”Khar and Clinton, who met along with their delegations prior to the press conference, termed their meeting as “useful and substantive” and agreed on “giving peace a chance” for the region’s stability.Hina said the talks focused on the ongoing challenging phase between the two countries and were meant to be constructive to clarify certain mutual misperceptions.She said the meeting was directed at finding ways to develop strategic convergence into an operational one.Hina said fighting terrorism was in Pakistan’s own interest, for its people and for the coming generations.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said stopping terrorism was the objective that Pakistan and the US shared together.She said the US encouraged Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together and stressed that the process needed to be transparent.She stressed the need to “squeeze” the Haqqani network and added that the United States along with Afghanistan had a recent successful operation against the Haqqani network inside Afghanistan and captured and killed dozens of terrorists.“We are trying to squeeze them in Afghanistan and we wait for the Pakistani support alongside,” she said.She insisted that Pakistani Taliban were a “terrible threat” to Pakistan and said the issue needed not just a military solution but required a political agenda, including economic assistance.She said the US realized the sacrifices of Pakistan and said “we respect the heavy toll of sacrifices that mark more than 30,000.”Foreign Minister Khar said Pakistan was keen to cooperate with the US and other countries on countering terrorism.“Yes, we can cooperate more and achieve better results. We are keen to cooperate with the United States closely and to evolve a common strategy,” she added.She said Pakistan believed in an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned solution to the issue of Afghanistan for a sustainable peace in the region.The Foreign Minister hoped that the upcoming Istanbul and Bonn Conference, also to be attended by Pakistan, would prove constructive in discussing the issue of peace in Afghanistan.She said like any other sovereign nation, Pakistan’s strategies were being devised by its state institutions with Parliament having greater supremacy.She mentioned the recent resolution signed by political parties across the country during the All Parties Conference (APC) as a united voice for Pakistan’s security. She said parliament had the authority to decide for the country’s chief executive to take military action.Clinton said she saw APC resolution as a very significant document and termed it a very important public commitment that wanted to give peace a chance.She urged the leaders of Pakistan to reduce corruption and implement development reforms in the country and stressed the Pakistani people to demand these rights.Clinton said Pakistan had a very critical role to play in ending conflict in Afghanistan.She supported the enhanced working atmosphere between Pakistan and India with an improved bilateral trade.On the killing of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, Clinton said his death closed a very unfortunate chapter, but start of a new era. Clinton mentioned the eagerness of Libyans, she observed during her recent trip to Libya, and said the United States was committed to their efforts of ensuring democracy in the country.