Washington: Reacting to a report that the US does not have a coherent plan to destroy terrorist safe havens in Pakistan's restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan, the Bush administration has said that there is "more to be done" to defeat Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
"... There's no question there's more to be - there's more to be done in that region... Everyone who has spoken to that issue of the borders has talked about what a difficult challenge it is. And we have more work to do there and we need to do it," White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday.
The Government Accountability Office report, which was requested by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Bush Administration does not have a coherent plan to destroy terrorist threats and safe havens in the border regions of Pakistan.
The report said the US has provided Pakistan with more than $10.5 billion for military, economic and development activities to combat Al Qaeda and Taliban which includes $5.8 billion to carry out the operations in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which borders Afghanistan. "I think we expect to continue to work in cooperation with the entire government of Pakistan to get after terrorism in the FATA region and the border. And I think everyone is committed to that goal," the White House official said.
"... Progress doesn't mean that you ve succeeded. And quite clearly the tribal areas, the FATA region of Pakistan, is not an area of Pakistan that's fully under control of the Pakistani government. It hasn't been in the history. And it's still a source of deep concern for the US government," the Spokesman at Foggy Bottom Sean McCormack said.
