US President Barack Obama has said Pakistan must co-operate more fully with the United States to go after and wipe out al-Qaeda.
Portraying the tribal territories that straddle between Afghanistan and Pakistan as the "epicenter of the violent extremism directed against the West... and the United States," Obama said in an interview to CBS to be broadcast on Sunday, excerpts of which were released on Saturday.
"Ultimately, in order for us to eradicate the problem, to really go after al Qaeda ... we are going to need more cooperation from Pakistan. There is no doubt about that," the US President said in crucial remarks after Washington announced inducting 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan to wipe out groups like Al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Obama's comments came as reports emerged that a senior Al-Qaida operations planner was killed in an American missile strike this week in western Pakistan.
The operative identified as Saleh al-Somali was responsible for the terror group's operations outside the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, reaching into activities in Africa.
US counter-terrorism officials said al-Somali was believed to have been involved in plotting attacks against the United States and Europe. He was killed by an unmanned drone missile Tuesday.
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