U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2009)

U.S. Department of State

Roundtable with Senior Pakistani Editors

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Lahore, Pakistan
October 30, 2009

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QUESTION: My concern is about the -- I think the (inaudible) as we were discussing earlier that the Pakistani Government (inaudible) Swat, and (inaudible) it was a very, very localized problem. And then (inaudible) India and other countries is that the impression one gets is that everybody wants just (inaudible) that there is (inaudible) Pakistan at the epicenter. But it is (inaudible) from Pakistan, it is very widely spread, and we think -- the people of Pakistan think that it is being fought in our backyard while the rest of the people who could have played a part in it, in fighting it, are not participating (inaudible) there is too much U.S., there is too much Pakistan in it, and it leads to certain kind of reactions in Pakistan especially.

My point is -- my question is why can't we involve other countries? I mean, if you want to make it truly global war against terror. (inaudible) to just involve the rest of the world? And when -- so that it becomes truly (inaudible) from the world. Right now, what we are doing is just -- in my opinion, just -- we are just fighting symptoms and we are not really closing those channels from where the money comes in, their cash flows and all these things. I mean, they are countries which are openly supporting these elements.

So what are we doing on the world stage globally just to show the Pakistanis that it is not only just a war of the U.S. that we are fighting, it's a war of (inaudible)? And again, what are you doing just -- what is the U.S. doing just (inaudible) close those channels? They're just a (inaudible) between two resourceful enemies, it seems. I mean, we are just providing them with foot soldiers, but they have the money, they are fighting it out with the U.S., which is (inaudible) more resourceful. But they have the resources. What have you done to just snap those supply lines?

SECRETARY CLINTON: We've done a lot, and we have worked with the international community. We have, I think, a very vigorous effort to go after the funding that comes to the Taliban and al-Qaida. We've been partially successful, but not fully. We are trying to eliminate the funding that comes from the drug trade. We've adopted a more successful policy in going after the drug traffickers instead of going after the poor farmers who were growing the poppies. We have, I think, 42 nations with troops in Afghanistan, including Muslim nations like Turkey and the UAE and others.

So this is an international effort. Now, because of Pakistan's sovereignty, you only have Pakistani military assets, except you have a lot of American equipment, you have equipment from other countries. I know that your military doesn't just buy from us. It buys from China, it buys from Russia, it buys from a lot of places. So in that sense, your military is going out looking for the assets it needs to take these people out.

But let me ask you something. Al-Qaida has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002. I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to. And maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not getable. I don't know. But that's something that in respect for your sovereignty, al-Qaida has run attacks against Indonesia, Spain, Great Britain, the United States, other countries, the Philippines, et cetera, through either direct or indirect approaches. So the world has an interest in seeing the capture and killing of the people who are the masterminds of this terrorist syndicate, but so far as we know, they're in Pakistan.

So I think I am more than willing to hear every complaint about the United States. I am more than willing to do my best both to answer but also to change where we can so that we do have better communication and we have better understanding. But this is a two-way street. If we're going to have a mature partnership where we work together on matters that really are in the best interest of both of our countries, then there are issues that not just the United States but others have with your government and your military security establishment.

So I think that that's what I'm looking for. I don't believe in dancing around difficult issues, because I don't think that benefits anybody. And I think part of the problem that we're facing in terms of the deficit of trust that has been talked about is that we haven't taken seriously a lot of the concerns. I'm here to take them seriously. But I ask in the pursuit of mutual respect that you take seriously our concerns so that it's not just a one-sided argument. And I believe that if we do that, we may still not agree or there may still be answers like, well, I don't know what is happening in this province of your country or I don't know what the reasons are that al-Qaida has a safe haven in your country, but let's explore it and let's try to be honest about it and figure out what we can do.

Because the enemy that we face -- there's no doubt that from what we believe, that many of the horrific attacks that took place in Lahore, the planning of the attacks on the military headquarters, the ISI, the university, et cetera, al-Qaida's hand is in there. They train people. They fund people. And we're doing our level best to break them up, to kill them, to capture them, to end their role in this terrorist network, which we think would be to Pakistan's benefit. Because a lot of the people that you're fighting now, they are influenced by, trained by, and fight alongside foreign fighters who were recruited and brought to Pakistan by the al-Qaida network. And I --

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