US cannot fight terror without Pakistan, says Clinton

US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton attempted to explain the US’s difficult alliance with Pakistan to the House foreign affairs committee.The committee has made $3 billion (€2.1 billion) in US military and development aid to Pakistan contingent on Islamabad co-operating with the US against extremist groups. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the committee, noted that US relations with Pakistan “continue to suffer from a cascading series of crises”.She cited the case of Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor who was freed by a Pakistani court last March. “The ultimate disgrace was the discovery of Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and living adjacent to a Pakistani military facility,” Ms Ros-Lehtinen added.“Our two countries are at a crossroads. We cannot sustain a partnership with Islamabad if it pursues policies that are hostile to US interests and jeopardise American lives.”On Wednesday, former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf described relations between the US and Pakistan as “terrible”.Ms Clinton confirmed on October 21st that the US last summer held an exploratory meeting with the Haqqani network, an Afghan group that launches attacks on Americans in Afghanistan from Pakistan. The meeting was held at the urging of the Pakistanis, Ms Clinton said.Ms Ros-Lehtinen asked Ms Clinton to clarify whether the US was cracking down on the Haqqani network or negotiating with it. “Both,” Ms Clinton said.“We want to test whether these organisations have any willingness to negotiate in good faith.”She added that “a major military operation in Afghanistan rounded up more than 100 Haqqani leaders in the past week”.“Everyone agrees the Haqqani network has safe havens inside Pakistan that enable them to attack and kill Americans,” Ms Clinton said. “But we also agree that we cannot fight terrorism without Pakistan. We are balancing these two realities.”A truck bombing at a US base in Afghanistan wounded 77 US soldiers on September 10th. Three days later, the US embassy in Kabul was besieged for 19 hours.Adm Mike Mullen, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told the Senate armed service committee that the Haqqani network carried out both attacks and “acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency”.Ms Clinton was criticised for certifying last March that Pakistan was co-operating in the “fight against terrorism”.Representative Ed Royce noted that Pakistan also harboured Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.Pakistan’s co-operation in pursuing radical groups “has to be broadened to the LeT”, he said.