Threat to Pak comes from within, not India, Zardari told

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

I / Washington May 7, 2009, 16:05 IST

US President Barack Obama is understood to have impressed upon his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari the need for Pakistan to concentrate on security challenges within the Taliban-infested country rather than considering India as an "existential threat".     

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs gave indication about it during the course of his daily briefing while his State Department counterpart Robert Wood was clearer in observing that Pakistan should not consider India as a threat.     

"I think the President brought this up proactively in the news conference last week. Obviously given the security challenges ahead in Pakistan, the President believes and the administration believes focusing on the security challenges within the country that are being posed right now make a lot more sense than stockpiling troops on the border," Gibbs said.     

He was referring to Obama's earlier statement when the President had expressed "grave concern" about the situation in Pakistan. Obama had said there was "some recognition just in the last few days that the obsession with India as the mortal threat to Pakistan has been misguided, and that their biggest threat right now comes internally."     

The State Department, however, made things much clear after Obama's talks with Zardari. "We have made very clear to them that the existential threat to Pakistan comes from the Taliban, not India," Wood said.   

A number of elements within the Pakistan government, society and the military have started realising that the threat to the country comes from the Taliban, Wood said.     

Referring to recent attacks in Pakistan, he said the strikes have made very clear the seriousness of this threat.     

"They (Pakistan) certainly, I believe, understand that," Wood said, adding that they have been geared for many years to deal with what they perceive to be a threat from India.     

"As I said, this existential threat is coming from within and across the border in Afghanistan. So I think certainly the leadership of Pakistan understands this and is focusing its resources on trying to deal with these extremists that threaten them from within and across the border," Wood said.     

Responding to another question, he said: "I think the Pakistani Government understands what it needs to do to deal with the real threat that it faces, and that real threat is not coming from India."     

However, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser James Jones deflected questions on the issue.      "Everything in due time", Clinton told reporters when asked how the US planned to improve Indo-Pak relations.     

At separate Congressional hearings in the past one week, Clinton and the Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, said that they are waiting for the Indian elections to be over and the new government formed before they could start work on reducing Indo-Pak tension.