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Ambassador: Pakistan will lead terror fight

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-30 03:15

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas: US military action in Pakistan against Taliban fighters will only destabilize a nation that now wants to fight the war "for it's own sake," the nation's ambassador to the US said Wednesday.

Husain Haqqani warned "foreign troops" coming into Pakistan from Afghanistan only will aid Taliban efforts to radicalize those in the Muslim nation. Haqqani said airstrikes by US drones would cause the same problem.

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"Pakistan will be deal with all possible targets ... through its means," the ambassador said.

Haqqani said his nation made strides in fighting the Taliban, noting the recent fighting in the Swat Valley. He said those living in the region escape to avoid becoming "human shields" for insurgents. He did not mention relief efforts for those displaced.

Haqqani said as a Muslim country with nuclear weapons, Pakistan is not a nation "that can be ignored or should be ignored." However, he said the country has decided on its own to target extremists.

"We have now decided we will fight this war for our sake," he said.

Haqqani made the comments Wednesday in Little Rock during a speech at the University of Arkansas' Clinton School of Public Service.