Washington: Asserting that terrorists continue to operate from Pakistan, the US has asked Islamabad to root out Taliban sanctuaries or else it will have to step in.

Extremists are still able to "base, train and operate from that country's (Pakistan's) territory," US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said yesterday (Apr 5, 2004), warning "We cannot allow this problem to fester indefinitely."

"Unless Pakistan roots out Taliban sanctuaries, it will be difficult to fully eliminate security problems in the South and East of Afghanistan," he told Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a major think tank in Washington.

"We have told the Pakistani leadership that either they solve this problem or we will have to do it ourselves. We prefer that Pakistan takes the responsibility, and the Pakistan Government agrees," he said.

Pakistan reacted to the statements angrily, saying they were uncalled for and unwanted.

"The remarks are uncalled for and unwanted," Foreign Office acting spokesman Abbas Jilani said.

Jilani said Ambassador Khalilzad is not aware of the stand of Washington about Pakistan's role against terror.

In his remarks, Khalilzad said the US-led coalition is prepared to help President Pervez Musharraf, adding, "One way or the other, this problem will have to be dealt with."

Jilani said the United States had always appreciated Pakistan's efforts in eliminating and rooting terrorist infrastructure and the Taliban elements, adding that statements like the one by the US envoy may lead to political problems for Pakistan.

Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed also rejected the US envoy's warning saying Pakistani forces are fully capable of confronting terrorists.

"The United States must realise ground realities," the state-run PTV quoted Rashid as saying.

"We will deal with terrorists on our homeland," Rashid said adding, "Pakistan does not need foreign forces to act on our soil and Pakistan will not allow anybody for such action."

Khalilzad, who had angered Pakistan last month by charging that Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives are launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani soil, however acknowledged Islamabad's recent Army deployment into tribal areas to destroy Taliban sanctuaries along the Afghan border was "positive and hopeful". Khalilzad said that the Taliban and other extremists are continuing to destabilise Afghanistan but they are not succeeding. "They have not been able to establish a popularly-supported insurgency," he said.

It would take at least five years for the US and its partners to consolidate the victory over extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan, he said.

"The next major task for us is for the US to make that commitment and to put in place the five-year programme that will enable Afghanistan to stand on its own feet."