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Pakistan must act to remove Haqqani safe havens: Clinton
[Dawn] A major offensive is under way against Haqqani hard boyz in eastern Afghanistan and Pakistain must act to remove safe havens on its side of the border, US Secretary of State  Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Marshall... said Thursday. "We are taking action against the Haqqanis. There was a major military operation inside Afghanistan in recent days," she told a joint news conference with Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... "It continues. That has been rounding up and eliminating Haqqani operatives on this side of the border," she added. The top US diplomat also said there was an "international effort to squeeze the Haqqanis with their funding and other aspects of their operations". The United States recently accused the Haqqanis of orchestrating a 19-hour siege of the US embassy in Kabul, a September truck bombing on a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... outpost that maimed 77 Americans and a June attack on Kabul's InterContinental hotel. Clinton confirmed that the United States believes the network operates out of a "safe haven in Pakistain". "And now it's a question as to how much cooperation Paks will provide in going after those safe havens," she added. Clinton is later Thursday due in Pakistain, where she is to be joined by CIA chief David Petraeus and top US military officer Martin Dempsey. "We intend to push the Paks very hard as to what they are willing and able to do with us...to remove the safe havens and the continuing threats across the border to Afghans," said Clinton. Washington last month escalated pressure on Pakistain to crack down on the Haqqani network, with the then military chief Admiral Mike Mullen accusing Pak intelligence of involvement in the embassy siege. US commanders say the Haqqanis are their most potent enemy in eastern Afghanistan and increasingly capable of launching high-profile attacks in Kabul. It is an Afghan Taliban faction, loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad BlinkyOmar. Afghan Defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak had said "Operation Knife Edge" was launched earlier this week, confirmed by a senior defence ministry official to be "largely against the Haqqani network". Posted by: trailing wife 2011-10-21 |
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