Photographs: Reuters
"He has been a good partner in going after terrorism that threatens his country and Afghanistan and our troops," she said while responding to questions from Senator Michael Mccaul.
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'No evidence of any high-level official knowing about Osama'
Photographs: Reuters
"This is a complicated, difficult relationship. What we are doing now is making it very clear what our expectations have to be going forward. And there is no doubt in my mind that certain elements of the Pakistani government are more ambivalent about cracking down on terrorism than other elements," Clinton said.
"You know, when I sit across from the foreign minister or talk to the ambassador or talk to the prime minister and others, I think they are very sincere. They know that the scourge of terrorism is killing Pakistanis."
'Ties between terror groups and Pak military decades old'
Image: Pakistan army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez KayaniPhotographs: Reuters
"So you see the strains and stresses of trying to have a civilian government in a democracy assert control over all elements of the government. We want to continue to support the democratic trend inside Pakistan," Clinton said. Earlier Mccaul said that recently he led a delegation to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We had a sit-down meeting with President Zardari, a very frank discussion. He looked at us in the eye and said that he had no knowledge that bin Laden was in his country. But we do know it's probably likely that lower-level officials knew of his (Laden's) presence in Pakistan," he said.
"Then we had Dr Afridi, who helped us over there. Now he's in prison for treason, as was pointed out earlier. They gave the Chinese access to the helicopter that was left behind at the compound."
'Zardari said our ties a bad marriage, but divorce is not an option'
"However, last year the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, testified that, with ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted a truck-bomb attack as well as an assault on our embassy."We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28th attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations," he claimed. "In short, he (Mullen) said the Haqqani Network acts as an arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, which takes me to my next question. We're giving all this foreign aid to a country that is complicit in working with the terrorists who are killing Americans."
"I understand all the implications. Zardari referred to our relationship as like a bad marriage, but divorce is not an option," Mccaul said, adding, "but when it comes to the funding, we're looking at crafting legislation that would essentially require the State Department to certify that they are not working with these networks, including Haqqani."And if that cannot be certified, then the foreign aid will be cut off," Mccaul threatened.
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