Pak havens need more than military solution: Obama
January 12, 2013  02:16

Addressing the issue of extremist safe haven in Pakistan requires more than a military solution, US President Barack Obama said today, noting that Islamabad has a crucial role to play in bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan.         

 

"With respect to Pakistan and safe havens there, Afghanistan and the United States and Pakistan all have an interest in reducing the threat of extremism in some of these border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that's going to require more than simply military actions," Obama told reporters at a joint press conference with the visiting Afghan President, Hamid Karzai.         

 

That's really going to require political and diplomatic work between Afghanistan and Pakistan; he said in response to a question from a visiting Afghan journalist when he asked the question of continued safe havens inside Afghanistan.          The United States, obviously, will have an interest in facilitating and participating in cooperation between the two sovereign countries, he noted.         

 

"But as President Karzai, I think, has indicated, it's very hard to imagine a stability and peace in the region if Pakistan and Afghanistan don't come to some basic agreement and understanding about the threat of extremism to both countries and both governments and both capitals.         

 

"I think you're starting to see a greater awareness of that on the part of the Pakistani government," Obama said. 

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