US informed Pakistan before designating Haqqani network

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US informed Pakistan before designating Haqqani network

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The US administration informed the Pakistani government before designating Haqqani network.

08 September,2012 01:29 am

The US officials have made clear that Pakistan was informed prior to publicly announcing the decision of designating Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization. They also rejected the notion that it could have any adverse impact on the US-Pakistan relations as is being reported in some media reports.Two senior state department officials briefed media on conference call about the reasons and impact of designating Haqqani network Thursday and answered the questions. This was following a statement by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton designating Haqqani network in response to a Congressional legislation.The officils said that they had been in close contact with Pakistan on the issue of Haqqani network for the last few years and particularly since the deliberations for designating Haqqani network started. This was discussed several times with senior civil and military leadership in Pakistan but they had no objection, the officials recalled.They also took the opportunity to reject reports that this decision could in any way imply that Pakistan could be designated as state sponsor of terrorism. It is a consensus view of this administration that this does not mean starting a process of designating Pakistan as state sponsor of terrorism, they stressed.We have designation many organisations as foreign terrorist organizations in other countries but it has not had any effect on our bilateral relations with them, they observed adding that the US had a very good partnership with Pakistan for combating terrorism and continued to look at what both of them could do together against extremists.They agreed that the previous year or so had been very critical for the bilateral relationship because of the number of issues involved. However, according to the senior officials, some positive steps during last few months like reopening of supply routes and border coordination improvement hinted at the relationship coming back on track.Pakistanis are committed to rooting out terrorism and we dont think this decision will have any negative impact on our relationship, they assured. This action is against Haqqani network and not against any other organ or agency of Pakistani government, they went on to add.They recalled Pakistans contribution in the war on terror. The US and Pakistan have had a common enemy and Pakistanis have lost over 30,000 lives in this war, which is more than any other country, they stated. We have indicated that we will use all available channels, like military, diplomatic and intelligence, with Pakistan on such issues of common interest, they argued.When pressed further on the subject, they called Pakistan an extremely valuable ally adding that they would continue to work with Pakistan to find ways to uproot safe heavens of Haqqani network in Pakistan. We are determined to cooperation for limiting threats to the interests of the US and Pakistan, they maintained.They also disagreed that this designation of Haqqani network could derail the overall efforts of reconciliation in Afghanistan. We dont see this having any impact on reconciliation efforts, those are going on. Our goal is to defeat al-Qaeda and make sure that they dont return but we also want a peaceful resolution of the conflict, the opined.When asked about the benefits of this decision, they said that this would help the US administration go after Haqqani network in Afghanistan and other parts of the world. This will also help in squeezing material support and finances of Haqqani network, they said adding that they would also be talking to government officials in a number of countries where Haqqani network was suspected to have assets, in order to urge them to freeze those assets.The Pakistan embassy in Washington, DC also reacted to the development and called it an internal matter of the US. This is an internal matter for the United States. It is not our business. The Haqqanis are not Pakistani nationals. We will continue to work with all international partners including the US in combating extremism and terrorism, the embassy spokesman said in a statement.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC