WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is optimistic that Afghanistan and Pakistan will take steps to fight extremists and that she’s “quite impressed” with recent Pakistani military action against the Taliban.
Amid talks with the two countries’ leaders, Clinton told reporters that the two countries had committed themselves to co-operating against militants in co-ordination with the United States.
She also said that Pakistan’s moves this week against the Taliban in the northwestern Swat Valley had been “called for and action has been forthcoming.”
Pakistan launched an offensive against the Taliban in the region after the collapse of a peace deal that had seen the extremists expand their territory toward the capital, compromising the government’s hold on power.
