The United States will respect Pakistan's sovereignty if it engaged in actions against militants in major metropolitan area, President Barack Obama said on Monday. "We expect Pakistan to cooperate more effectively in the future than they have in the past," he said in an interview with CBS's popular '60 Minutes' news programme broadcast on Sunday.
He was responding to a question about why the Obama administration had not taken any action against the Taliban leadership in Quetta near the Pak-Afghan border, with drone strikes against them. "I don't want to comment on certain sensitive aspects to our efforts in this border region, the president said, while reminding of his campaign pledge to taken action if the US had actual war intelligence on high-ranking al Qaeda leaders.
"A lot of this border region is big and complicated. And even a city like Quetta is a big city. And, you know, we have to respect the sovereignty of Pakistan as we engage in potential actions that would involve going into a major metropolitan area with a lot of civilians around it." President Obama urged the Pakistan government to recognise the degree to which the militants threatened their stability.
"This isn't America's war. This isn't the West's war. This is a situation in which you've got a very dangerous, extremist network that is growing, and right now is killing more Pakistanis than anybody else, he said. "And we think that you're starting to see certainly in terms of public opinion, as well as within the military, a recognition of that growing threat.
But it takes some times to operationalise, and our hope is that we see progress over the next couple of years." Asked whether the Pakistanis have any appetite for going after Mullah Omar in Quetta, the president said he believes that these networks are killing more Pakistanis then Americans, saying it's in their interest to start moving in a new direction.
"How fast they do that in part is gonna depend on how effectively we can partner with them," he added. Replying to another question, the president said the US has been able to put pressure on al Qaeda, and take out the key leadership not only in this region, but also in places like Somalia as also in Indonesia.
"Part of the reason we're able to do that is because you don't just have a free-for-all in this space," he said. "Our presence there has been helpful in pinning them in and restricting their movement and restricting their communications ability.
Ultimately, in order for us to eradicate the problem, to really go after al Qaeda, in an effective way, we are going to need more co-operation from Pakistan. There is no doubt about that. And we have had very detailed and serious conversations with the Pakistan government and the Pakistan military about the fact that their traditional orientation, which has been to compete with India - that's what they view as their existential threat - has now been overtaken by extremists within their own midst that are exploding bombs with impunity throughout Pakistan.
"And you're starting to see that recognition from Pakistan. The Pakistani military this year has launched a more aggressive offensive into these border regions than ever before. We want to build on that, continue to partner with them on it, but to the extent that we've got a stable Afghanistan on the other side, that helps us convince the Pakistanis that this is an approach that they need to take.