President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed the United States will "insist" Pakistan fulfil its promises to counter militant sanctuaries on its soil. "We will work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism, and we will insist that it keep its commitments," Obama said in a televised speech on troop withdrawal plans for the war in Afghanistan.
Obama's comments underscored festering tensions between Washington and Islamabad in the wake of a unilateral US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan last month. In blunt language, Obama made clear he was ready to order more assaults against any safe-havens harbouring those who aimed to kill Americans.
"For there should be no doubt that so long as I am president, the United States will never tolerate a safe-haven for those who aim to kill us: they cannot elude us, nor escape the justice they deserve," he said. Referring to Pakistan, Obama said "no country is more endangered by the presence of violent extremists." The US president said his government would "continue to press Pakistan to expand its participation in securing a more peaceful future for this war-torn region." Before his speech, Obama telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, officials in Islamabad said.
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