Stepping up pressure, the US has asked Pakistan to go after militant groups operating from safe havens on its soil and ensure that its border with Afghanistan be secured "as best as possible".
WASHINGTON: Stepping up pressure, the US has asked Pakistan to go after militant groups operating from safe havens on its soil and ensure that its border with Afghanistan be secured "as best as possible".
US President George W Bush told visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Monday that Islamabad should ensure that the Pak-Afghan border should be secured "as best as possible".
"We talked about the common threat we face, extremists who are very dangerous people," Bush said.
"I told the Prime Minister (Gilani) that the US is committed to helping the Afghan democracy succeed, which is in Pakistan's interest," Bush said adding that the sovereignty of Pakistan would be respected.
The Bush-Gilani meeting was overshadowed by a US missile strike inside Pakistan's restive tribal area which killed a top al-Qaeda biological and chemical weapons expert.
Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar had a five-million-dollar bounty on his head and allegedly ran terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
Gilani said Pakistan was committed to fight terrorism and extremism. "This is a war which is against Pakistan, and we'll fight for our own cause," he said.
Gilani also stressed on pursuing a multi-pronged strategy, involving intensifying military operations and taking steps to change the lifestyle of people in its bordering areas with Afghanistan, to curb terrorism.
"Prime Minister Gilani also talked about how do you help change the lifestyle of people in the region so that they have a hopeful future rather than one based on terrorism. They have complex issues on the border there, especially when they have refugees -- about 3 million refugees from Afghanistan living in the border area. The President pledged support for that," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
Both the leaders talked about counter-terrorism efforts, and especially what can be done to provide training for their military, she said.
"When it comes to counter-terrorism, President Bush feels that all of us need to be doing more. And the Prime Minister talked about some of the efforts that they've been working on, especially in terms of coordination with our military and training that we have provided," she said.
"Certainly he didn't rule it out, in terms of adding more from the military point of view. And he did say that it was -- his singular focus was to try to deal with this counter-terrorism issue," Perino said in response to a query on whether Gilani had agreed to step up the military ante.
"I think that when he talks about the war on terror, when it's from his perspective, he doesn't think that this is a war on terror just being waged against the United States. I mean, his good friend Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed by terrorists. And so they have incentive and every reason in the world to try to go after them as well," she said.
"I think it means that we believe that working together with the Pakistanis is the best way to go after terrorists. And we all need to do more. And we need to do it more aggressively. And we need to do it with more resources and with the cooperation of our NATO allies and the Afghan government," the spokeswoman said.
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