Washington, Dec 10 (IANS) Top US lawmakers agree that Pakistan constituted the principal challenge for US policymakers as all major terror groups, including perhaps Osama bin Laden, were based in that country.
John Kerry, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged Pakistan was at the core of US challenge in the Af-Pak region, as all major terror groups including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks and Al Qaeda leaders, “most likely including Osama bin Laden”, are based in Pakistan.

He also wanted India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to cooperate with each other to fight the common threat of extremism even as he acknowledged that Washington’s challenge was to persuade Islamabad not “to hedge its bets”.

“New York or Mumbai or Peshawar”, all are threatened by extremism, said Kerry, a co-author of a bill tripling non-military aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion over five years, at a Congressional hearing Wednesday.

Confronting terrorism was a major challenge before the world and cooperation was the key to succeed against the menace, Kerry said. “We must work together in stopping people throwing bombs and killing innocent people. That’s the world’s challenge, and it means Afghanistan, Pakistan and India must cooperate to reduce the violence and eliminate the tensions.”

Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the panel, said: “The future direction of governance in Pakistan will have consequences for non-proliferation efforts, global economic stability, our relationships with India and China and security in both the Middle East and South Asia regions.”

“The potential global impact of instability in a nuclear armed Pakistan dwarfs anything that is likely to happen in Afghanistan,” he said.

Underlining the need for taking the war on terror to its logical end in Pakistan, Kerry said from Haqqani network to Quetta Shura, the extremist groups do not stop at Afghan border and “so our strategy must also extend to Pakistan”.

“Al Qaeda’s leaders are there, most likely including Osama bin Laden, homegrown militants like the LeT are there, and so are the men directing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan,” he said.

Taking on the terror networks in Pakistan will be crucial to success in Afghanistan, he said, adding that the US is prepared to provide Pakistan equipment and military assistance to help it prevail against extremists, but “we have to know that we are building a new and lasting partnership”.

“Our challenge today is to persuade Pakistan that it cannot and doesn’t need to hedge its bets.”