State Department reiterates commitment to 'squeeze' Haqqani network: other countries' diplomats briefed on Hillary's visit

The US State Department on Saturday briefed diplomats of 'other countries' on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent visit to Pakistan, reiterating Washington's commitment to jointly squeeze Haqqani Network through intelligence sharing with Islamabad.
Briefing the diplomats, US State Department official elaborated Secretary Clinton's remarks of 'squeezing' Taliban, including the Haqqani network, adding that by 'squeezing' she had meant 'intelligence-sharing' to ensure that "we're working together against their activities. "She talked about the importance of doing all we can to stop the planning and the execution of attacks."
"She also highlighted for you publicly and for the Pakistani people publicly the importance of really implementing the Pakistani strategy, their own national strategy on countering IEDs", the State Department official told diplomats in Islamabad, according to an e-mail message received here from the State Department.
The official said that the talks were very much on the lines "that we have to squeeze them. We're obviously working with the Afghans to fight them, those who will not reconcile, but we also have to have a track for talking for those who are willing to come in off the battlefield within the parameters that we've - that the Afghans have set and that we have supported. So, I don't think there's any disagreement between us that we have to fight and squeeze even as we talk". The official said that the US team, headed by Secretary Clinton during meeting with Pakistani side led by Prime Minister Gilani held talks in three areas - "talking about our counterterrorism relationship; talking about our regional relationship, meaning Afghanistan, Pakistan, US, but also the Silk Road vision; and then talking about our bilateral relationship".
Clinton outlined some of the concrete areas during her joint press conference with Foreign Minister Hina Rabani Khar where Washington wants to work; but particularly with regard to counterterrorism, she spoke about the importance of working together to end the safe havens both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, and specifically the need to squeeze the Haqqani Network.
The official further said that under the reconciliation process, US and Pakistan support an Afghan-led process that meets the Afghans' own red lines, which is in the context of people who are prepared to renounce violence, break ties with al Qaida, support the Afghan constitution in all of its elements, including full support for universal human rights, rights of women, rule of law. "She was very strong over the course of the day that she is not prepared to support anything that would roll back the progress that Afghanistan has seen on all of these elements", said the official. On the bilateral side, Pakistanis are asking for an aid-based relationship to a trade-based relationship; the need to build - work together on sustainable initiatives that will give Pakistanis and Americans a real stake in this relationship and will support progress and prosperity. "Clinton named a few things that we are working on - enterprise fund. But, some of these things require congressional support, they're going to require that we also make progress on the other dockets - on the fight, talk, build docket - in order to make these things possible," the official added.
About the question that there's agreement on 99 percent of issues that qualify some progress, the official said in the context of the reconciliation, "a reassertion that we are all agreeing on these red lines that it's going to take - that it has to be Afghan-led, has to be at the pace and scope that the Afghans decide on. That Pakistan has to play its part in this; it has to encourage reconciliation, not - it has to encourage reconciliation. And that as efforts are made at reconciliation, if the US can play a helpful role, that we would be available to do it - do that", the official added.
When asked that Pakistanis have been pretty clear in the meetings that they are sticking by the all parties conference (APC) statement about prioritising peace talks with Pakistani-based Taliban groups over military operations and Pakistanis say that was the message they were consistently giving to the US side, which suggests that they're more about the talk than about the fight in Pakistan territories at the moment, the official said that the APC means that every party in Pakistan got together and agreed that reconciliation, if it can be done right and if it is Afghan-led and if it meets the red lines, is in Pakistan's interests.
"I think they need to keep the Pakistani body politic together on this agenda. And they think that they have a framework for doing that with this agreement of the all-parties conference", added the official.
About Clinton's remarks pertaining to meeting with the Taliban, the official said: "What I've just spoken of was with regard to the ISI-requested initiative with regard to Haqqani. On the larger effort to reconcile the Taliban, as I said at the outset, we've had a number of informal straws in the wind to support the Afghan-led process; so that's what she was referring to". The official further said that initiative was taken on the request of the ISI.