Washington: The Af-Pak region poses a great national security threat to the US and it is where al Qaeda top leadership is based, even though Nigerian terror suspect was not trained by the outfit in the region, a senior Obama administration official has said.
"The fact that this particular person (Abdulmutallab) was not trained in Pakistan does not change the fact that the inspiration for all of this comes from al Qaeda, and its leadership is based in the remotest areas on Afghanistan-Pakistan border," Richard Holbrooke, Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan said.
"We concluded without any dissent that this was a national security issue, and we could not walk away from it," Holbrooke said in his address to the Brookings Institute - a
Washington-based think tank.
The US, its European allies and the countries, which have their own internal challenges, including the GCC, all agree that stability in Afghanistan, Pakistan was critical in a strategic sense.
"So we conclude as well that what happens there is not just vital to our own homeland security, it's also vital to an extraordinary large range of countries which includes the two most populous countries in the world. It includes Russia," he said, adding it includes the world's largest oil areas.
Holbrooke said, "Obviously, implications for other problems we face to the east in Iran and in regard to the Arab-Israeli issues."
In response to a question from Brookings head, Strobe Talbot, Holbrook said: "All I can say is that we knew from the beginning that what happened in Pakistan was critically important to the region."
As a result, the Obama administration approached Pakistan with great respect for its sovereignty, territorial integrity and the enormous complexities of what it faces economically, socially, politically, and strategically on both its major borders.
"If you look at Pakistan during the last year, you can construct two different models. But from our point of view, we saw the Pakistani military go into Swat, do great damage to the insurgents, collaborate and cooperate with the US military in some -- some information sharing activities which produced beneficial results," he said.
Holbrooke, however, ruled out any US troops in Pakistan.
Noting Pakistan has a long and complicated history with the US, Holbrooke said: "We will continue to work with Pakistan as a friend and an ally and with great understanding and support for utter complexity of what they're going through."
However, Holbrooke refused to accept the notion that the situation is worse today in Pakistan.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 08, 2010, 11:51