Washington, July 27: Taliban has come under tremendous pressure following Pakistan’s military action against the militant group in Swat valley and adjoining areas, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday.
“We have seen the Pakistani government and military really step up, which had not happened to the extent it has now. So the Taliban, which is, as I believe strongly, part of a kind of terrorist syndicate with al-Qaeda at the center, is now under tremendous pressure,” Ms. Clinton told the NBC news channel in an interview.
The Secretary of State said strategic review concludes that al-Qaeda is supported by and uses its extremist allies like elements within the Taliban and other violent extremist groups in the region as well as worldwide, to extend its reach; to be proxies for a lot of its attacks on Jakarta, Indonesia and elsewhere.
“So that in order to really go after al-Qaeda, to uproot it and destroy it, we had to take on those who were giving the al-Qaeda leadership safe haven,” Ms. Clinton said, adding “the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is permeable. There are movements back and forth across it.”
On Indo-US relationship
The United States’ relationship with India has bipartisan support, she told the channel.
“We are building on some of the good work that has been done in a bipartisan way with India”, Ms. Clinton said.
“We have now announced the most comprehensive engagement we have ever had with that country,” Ms. Clinton, who was recently in India, said.
–PTI