Context
The US demanded on Thursday that Pakistan eliminate Taliban save havens in the country. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton told Islamabad that it needs to play a “constructive role” in bringing the militants to the negotiating table. The US intends “to push the Pakistanis very hard as to what they are willing and able to do with us… to remove the safe havens and the continuing threats across the border to Afghans”. The comments by the Secretary of State reverberated earlier claims by top US officials that Pakistan needs to do more to remove militant sanctuaries from its territory.
Clinton was speaking following talks in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This was her first visit to the country after the siege of the US embassy in Kabul. She later arrived in Pakistan on Thursday along with new CIA director David Petraeus and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey.
