Clinton says Taliban must be defeated (Roundup)

Oct 29, 2009, 11:52 GMT

   Islamabad - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday praised Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaeda near the Afghan border, saying 'this is a fight that has to be won.'

   Speaking at the prestigious Government College University in the eastern city of Lahore, Clinton said militants were 'slowly but insidiously' gaining territory after undermining the government's writ.

   The top US diplomat reached Lahore, Pakistan's cultural centre and capital of the Punjab province, in the morning on the second leg of her three-day visit to the nuclear-armed Islamic republic.

   'The terrorists are a small but deadly group who must be defeated,' Clinton stressed.

   She expressed her confidence that the Pakistani security forces and the government would emerge successful against the scourge of terrorism.

   Clinton's remarks came as rescue teams cleared the rubble at a market in the north-western city of Peshawar, where a car bomb killed 111 people and wounded over 200 others on Wednesday.

   No group has claimed responsibility for the strike, but suspicion has fallen on the Taliban militants in the South Waziristan tribal district, where 30,000 Pakistani troops are taking on thousands of hardcore insurgents.

   The rugged region is regarded as the main global hub of militants, including al-Qaeda lieutenants who use the badlands to plan and launch attacks on the Western forces in Afghanistan.

   The security forces said on Thursday that they killed 11 more militants in the latest clashes in the area as they closed on an important militant-controlled town, Kaniguram. One soldier was also killed in the fight.

   The army's three-pronged assault has been progressing slowly in the face of stiff resistance by the militants in which altogether 275 militants and 32 soldiers have been killed so far.

   The figures are very difficult to confirm independently as the authorities have closed the area to reporters.

   In Lahore, Clinton also visited the historic Badshahi mosque and the adjacent Mughal-era Lahore Fort, besides signing the guest book at the mausoleum of Pakistan's national poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal.

   The former first lady had interaction with Pakistan's main opposition leader and two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif and held meetings with businessmen.

   Before leaving for Lahore, she visited a revered shrine located just a few kilometres from the US embassy in Islamabad.