Washington:
Issuing tough warning to Islamabad, the US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said that Pakistan "must demonstrate" its commitment to root out Al-Qaida and all other terrorist groups within its territory.
The statement came even as the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is in Washington to attend a trilateral summit between President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at the White House on Wednesday.
Reiterating Obama's pledge not to provide a "blank cheque," Holbrooke, in his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said: "Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out Al-Qaida and the violent extremists within its border."
He said the Obama Administration intends to implement "measures of performance" in its economic, social and military assistance to Pakistan.
The US Envoy, who has been to South Asia twice after being appointed, said: "We must ensure, however, that such tools do not impede the effectiveness of our assistance or play to the "trust deficit" that plagues our bilateral relationship and promotes distrust among the Pakistani people."
With two legislations pending in the Congress related to aid to Pakistan, Holbrooke said: "Any legislation should engender the greatest level of cooperation by winning the trust of our civil and military partners in Pakistan."
Observing that the Pakistani military is more trained at focusing on its arch enemy India, he urged the lawmakers to help the Obama Administration to "recalibrate" the Pakistani Army "from its current conventional threat posture to one that addresses the insurgents on its Western frontier."
Holbrooke acknowledged that many in the ISI "question dedication of some elements of the Pakistani government to ending safe haven for terrorists on Pakistani soil", and many in Pakistan, he said believe that the US is not a reliable long-term partner and that America will abandon after achieving counter-terrorism objectives.
"Our engagement has to be aimed at putting our relationship on a better long-term footing," Holbrooke said.
"To assure a strong partnership in the fight against extremists, constancy and consistency must be the hallmark of our engagement with Pakistan," he said.
Holbrooke argued successfully shutting down the Pakistani safe haven for extremists will require consistent and intensive strategic engagement with Pakistan's civilian and military leadership.
He said it is vital to strengthen US efforts to develop and enable Pakistani security forces - both the military and law enforcement - so they are capable of carrying out sustained counter-insurgency operations.