Pakistan links Haqqani swoop to intel sharing

Pakistan

Pakistan links Haqqani swoop to intel sharing

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Pakistan has promised action against Haqqani network if US provides sufficient intelligence.

22 September,2011 04:38 pm

But it denied that the Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban faction was on Pakistani soil.Ties between Pakistan and the United States appear to be slowly warming after the May 2 unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.But the US has significantly increased pressure on Pakistan to cut alleged ties with the Haqqani network, which Washington believes is based in Pakistans northwest.The Haqqani network is probably the most dangerous faction in the Afghan Taliban and founded by a CIA asset turned Al-Qaeda ally.I have assured them (the United States) they are not on the Pakistani side (of the border with Afghanistan) but if there is intelligence which is provided by the US we will definitely take action, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.Malik spoke to reporters after talks with FBI director Robert Mueller late Wednesday.The minister said Pakistan and the United States were resolving together the irritant of the Haqqani group issue.Washington blames the Haqqanis for some of the most spectacular attacks in Afghanistan, such as last weeks 19-hour siege in Kabul and the 2009 killing of seven CIA agents, and accuses Pakistani spies of having ties to the group.On Wednesday, the US Senate Appropriations Committee conditioned all funds for Pakistans government on cooperation against the Haqqani network, Al-Qaeda and other fighters.Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that without Pakistan’s action against Haqqani sanctuaries, the United States could not succeed in Afghanistan, where troops are fighting a Taliban insurgency.Mullen said Pakistan must sever all ties with the Haqqani militants.