Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 8 (IANS) The US would continue to pressurise Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice and ensure there are no terror havens within its territory, President Barack Obama told Indian parliamentarians Monday.

“And we will continue to insist to Pakistan’s leaders that terrorist safe havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that the terrorists behind the (2008) Mumbai attacks be brought to justice,” he said in his speech to the joint sitting of the two houses of parliament.

“We must also recognise that all of us have an interest in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic - and none more so than India,” he asserted.

He was saying this in the context of the US’ counter-terror activities with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The Pakistani government increasingly recognises that these networks are not just a threat outside of Pakistan - they are a threat to the Pakistani people, who have suffered greatly at the hands of violent extremists,” he noted.

On Afghanistan, he said the US was making progress in its mission to break the momentum of the Taliban and said the commitment to the Afghan people would endure. “The United States will not abandon the people of Afghanistan - or the region - to the violent extremists who threaten us all.”

He also made mention of India’s development projects in the war-ravaged country. “America’s fight against Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is why we persevere in Afghanistan, where major development assistance from India has improved the lives of the Afghan people.”