Pakistan on Saturday maintained a studied silence to reports from Washington suggesting that the United States was considering covert raids in the tribal areas to take out the Haqqani network which was held responsible for the latest terrorist attack in Kabul.
All that the Foreign Office said was Pakistan strongly condemned the attacks that took place on Friday at a lake side hotel near Kabul resulting in the loss of several precious lives.
“Pakistan remains committed to peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan. It will continue working closely with the government of Afghanistan to achieve these objectives.”
In Washington, reacting to the Associated Press report of covert raids inside Pakistan, a White House official was quoted by Dawn as stating “we’ll take steps necessary to mitigate the threat [from the Haqqani network]”.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Commander John Allen and a State Department spokesperson separately told media that the attack had all the markings of a Haqqani network doing.
The attack on the Kabul hotel came at a time when U.S.-Pakistan relations are on a downward trajectory.
They have been unable to put the relationship back on track after it took a beating following the ISAF attack on a Pakistani military post in Salala killing 24 soldiers last November.
Hopeful of mending fences with the U.S., Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had earlier this month said there was a need to “give quiet diplomacy a chance” as both countries had found their sabre-rattling through the media counter-productive.
