30 October 2009 / AP, LAHORE
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday that Pakistan had little choice but to take a more aggressive approach, starting last summer, to combating Taliban and other extremist forces that threaten to destabilize the country.
In a lively give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore, Clinton said inaction by the government would have amounted to ceding ground to terrorists. “If you want to see your territory shrink, that’s your choice,” she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice. Dozens of students rushed to line up for the microphone when the session began. Their questions were not hostile, but showed a strong sense of doubt that the US can be a reliable and trusted partner for Pakistan. Clinton met with the students on the second day of a three-day visit to Pakistan, her first as secretary of state. Shortly after she arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday, a car bomb exploded in a market crowded with women and children in Peshawar, killing 105. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2007.
