Hillary Clinton’s blunt talk to Pakistan

Clinton says Pakistan must play a greater role in fighting terrorism in the region.

10/21/11 6:15 AM EDT

An unusually powerful American delegation arrived here on Thursday to deliver the starkest warning yet to Pakistan, according to a senior American official: that the United States would act unilaterally if necessary to attack extremist groups that use the country as a haven to kill Americans.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; David H. Petraeus, the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, planned to push their Pakistani counterparts to make a definitive choice between fighting terrorists or supporting them, the administration official said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a stern warning to the government of Pakistan on Friday, saying extremists have found a safe haven in the country for “too long.”

“We should be able to agree that for too long extremists have been able to operate here in Pakistan and from Pakistani soil,” Clinton said in Islamabad, The Associated Press reports. “No one who targets innocent civilians, whether they be Pakistanis, Afghans, Americans or anyone else should be tolerated or protected.”

Addressing reporters at a press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, the secretary of state repeated a call she had made on Thursday during a stop in Afghanistan, in which she maintained that Pakistan must play a greater role in fighting terrorism in the region and vowed to “push Pakistan very hard.”

“Pakistan has a critical role to play in supporting Afghan reconciliation and ending the conflict,” Clinton said, according to the AP. “We look to Pakistan to take strong steps to deny Afghan insurgents safe havens and to encourage the Taliban to enter negotiations in good faith.”

The Pakistani foreign minister said her country treats the threat of terrorism “seriously,” and that the Pakistani government was “committed” to see success in weeding our terrorist threats in the region, the AP said.

Earlier this week, Clinton made stop in Libya, Oman and Afghanistan. The last leg of her trip to the region will include stops in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.