Pakistan is partner in anti-terror fight: US

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is America's partner in the fight against terrorism and the two countries will continue to work together in combating the menace, the State Department said.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland dismissed the suggestion that discussions on militant organizations like the Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba being able to operate on the Pakistani soil implied that the key South Asian country was a state sponsor of terrorism.

"Our view is that Pakistan is a partner in our fight against terror, and we're going to continue to work together. We believe it is in our interest and it's in the interest of Pakistan that we continue to strengthen our cooperation and collaboration," she said.

Nuland was answering a series of following Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's remarks about the two organizations' alleged links in Pakistan.

"I think Secretary Panetta spoke to our concern about how these two organizations operate and any relationship that they may have with Pakistan, which is a subject that we talk about with Pakistan, which is a different issue than a state being a sponsor of terrorism itself," she explained. The spokesperson said Panetta's remarks did not suggest that the two organizations had relationship with the Pakistani government as she responded with a "no" when asked pointedly if the comments meant that.

Panetta appeared jointly with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday and discussing US-Pakistan relationship, both saw it as of "paramount importance" to the fight against terror as well as in the context of Pakistan's vital significance in the region.

Washington, the State Department spokesperson said, has a robust dialogue with Pakistan on counterterrorism issues, and "we continue to try to strengthen our approach, collaborate as much as we can.

Obviously, these two organizations that Secretary Panetta spoke about this morning are on the list of subjects that we talk about together.

But beyond that, I don't think I'm going to get into the substance."

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011