Afghan, western Pak pose danger to India: US

Identifying Afghanistan and western Pakistan as one of the most dangerous parts of the world, special US envoy for Af-Pak on Monday said, the region poses a great threat to not only the United States, but also India [ Images ] and Western Europe.

"It and its neighbour, the western areas of Pakistan, remain a clear and present danger to everyone, not only in the United States, but in Western Europe, in Pakistan itself, in India, and elsewhere throughout the region," Richard Holbrooke [ Images ], Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told CNN in an interview.

Asserting that Obama [ Images ] Administration's commitment to Afghanistan remains undiminished, Holbrooke said, "We remain committed to the core objectives of defeating and dismantling al Qaida, of helping strengthen civilian democratic rule in Pakistan, of strengthening the Afghan people's government and its security forces."

Holbrooke, who has not visited Afghanistan since the August 20th presidential elections, said he will attend the inauguration of Hamid Karzai's [ Images ] presidency for the second term.

Terming the recently concluded Pakistan trip of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [ Images ] as incredible, Holbrooke said, "This was a very important trip in which we committed ourselves to much greater support of Pakistan's democratic institutions and the economy in Pakistan, with particular attention to energy."

He said Clinton had the most extraordinary trip he has ever seen of an American Secretary of State.

"Hillary Clinton is enormously popular personally in -- in Pakistan, but America is not popular. In every discussion, when there were plenty of disagreements -- she said the same message: We are friends who have some disagreements," Holbrooke added.