Clinton chides Pakistani inaction on al-Qaeda haven to win friends
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said Pakistan had wasted chances in the past to kill or capture leaders of the al-Qaeda terror network responsible for 9/11. Clinton's particularly blunt statements went further than previous US comments in asserting Pakistan had done too little to tackle al-Qaeda’s top-tier leaders. Clinton said: “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to. So the world has an interest in seeing the capture and killing of the people who are the masterminds of this terrorist syndicate. As far as we know, they are in Pakistan.” With Pakistan still in shock from a bombing that killed more than 100 people in Peshawar, Clinton defended the recent military offensive against insurgents, telling students inaction by the Pakistani government would have ceded ground to terrorists. “If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice,” she said, noting that would be a bad choice. Special Afghanistan/Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke said Clinton would meet with the Pakistani army chief for a briefing on the current Pakistani offensive against insurgents in tribal areas near the Afghan border. For more: AP
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