Pak Should Take More Actions to Deal with Taliban, Other Issues: Holbrooke
US special envoy to Af-Pak region Richar Holbrooke has said that he expects ‘more action’ from Pakistan in dealing with Taliban and other issues, reported PTI.
He said that during his Pakistan visit last week, the spread of Taliban in the North-West Frontier Province was the ‘main subject’ of his discussion with Pakistani leadership, said report.
“Of course we have. That was the main subject of our discussion with Pakistan,” he told reporters in New Delhi, said report.
He made the statement while answering a question on whether he raised the issue of increase in Taliban’s activities in the NWFP.
Holbrooke said that the US was ‘very encouraged’ by the actions Pakistan took in Swat region.
“I was in Swat a few days ago and I was very impressed with the progress in South Waziristan. But there are other issues that we have talked about, which I hope will see more actions on,” he was quoted as saying.
He called on External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and briefed him about his discussions with the leaders in the Af-Pak region.
“I have come from Afghanistan and Pakistan and I was reporting on my trip and soliciting views and opinions of India,” he was quoted as saying on his meeting with Krishna.
The US special envoy was slated to hold discussions with other senior government officials.
“India is a tremendously important participant in search for peace and stability not only in South Asia but throughout the vast region that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Pacific,” he was quoted as saying.
About the Taliban attack in Afghanistan, he said that use of such tactics by Taliban was not surprising.
“They are desperate people. They are ruthless and the people who are doing this will certainly not survive this attack nor will they succeed, but we can expect this sort of thing on a regular basis,” he was quoted as saying.
“That is what Taliban are. They are part of extremist groups operating in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan and they do these desperate things all the time and India knows all this,” he said.
