US Republican Senator John McCain has said that Pakistan has no right to use the Kashmir issue as an excuse for not targeting extremist groups like the Haqqani network.

"Pakistan should not take refuge behind Kashmir conflict for not taking action against terrorist groups that operate almost openly in Pakistan," The News quoted McCain, as saying at Carnegie Institute on 'Future of Afghanistan.

"I have sympathy for Pakistani military leadership, but disappointed at ISI's continued cooperation with Haqqanis,' he added.McCain said ensuring a long-term US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 will be a key to success or failure in the war against Taliban insurgents. 

"We are approaching the end game of a long war, and American people are weary of this long war,' he added.