US will help Pakistan in tackling extremism

WASHINGTON: United States has said it will help Pakistan in coming to terms with the threat of extremism which is trying to destabilise the South Asian country and derail the democratic process there.

"Certainly, it's no surprise to us, given the history of extremist action in Pakistan, that they would respond with violence to anything that they do not like or anything that they oppose. We're going to continue to work with the government of Pakistan to help them respond to this challenge and to help us deal with the common threat that these groups pose," State Department's Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said.

He, however, said that it was highly unlikely that operational issues were discussed in a recent luncheon meeting between the Secretaries of State and Defence.

"I'm not familiar with the reports you're referring to, the subject of Pakistan, as far as I know, at least in terms of any operational issues, is not something I would expect either of the two secretaries to have discussed during their lunch," Casey said.

Casey was asked if the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Secretary of Defence Robert Gates had discussed any impending Pakistani air attacks on strongholds of the al Qaeda and the Taliban recently.

"Pakistan's confronted with a number of extremists who are intent on destabilizing the country and oppose the efforts that Pakistanis themselves are making to expand their own democratic system and to make the kind of positive changes that most Pakistanis want to see," he added.