May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

WASHINGTON, May 24: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that despite differences over the Fata talks, the United States does not believe that Pakistan wants to exacerbate the situation in the tribal region or create problems for Afghanistan.

In a joint interview to BBC with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Ms Rice also indicated that there were differences between the US and Britain over Pakistan’s efforts to seek a negotiated settlement to insurgency in Fata.

“I don’t believe that the Pakistani government wants to create circumstances in which terrorists can get breathing space,” said Ms Rice while explaining US views on the peace talks.

“I certainly don’t think that Pakistan wants to make this Afghanistan’s problem.”

Ms Rice also rejected speculations that differences over the Fata talks could jeopardise US relations with Pakistan.

“To say that one is concerned is simply what- what friends do. It’s not to say that we’re not going to continue to work with this Pakistani government of which we have great respect,” she said.

Ms Rice said that the final US response to the peace talks would depend on how this was carried out but she was convinced that now there exists “a better shared sense of responsibility” between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the border and the regions around it and “hopefully, this will work.”

Ms Rice said the US recognised Pakistan’s decision to engage the militants as “a sovereign decision” of a friendly government.

“We certainly respect the government of Pakistan, and we fully respect their decision to try a course, but we do have concerns because we’ve been down this road before and it was violated before by militants, and as a result the ability to fight the terrorists (...) one has to worry that it will be curtailed,” she said.

“It is very important that any arrangement not permit terrorists to use that arrangement to plot or plan attacks and to strengthen themselves.”

The United States, she said, understood that fighting terrorism was not just about military action, and it also understood the importance of developing economic opportunities.

“One does have to be able to deal with irreconcilables through military action, but of course, you also have to win the hearts and minds of the people,” she said.

“And the United States has been more than willing to support the efforts for reconstruction and development in the Fata region, for the development of better economic prospects for people in the Fata region. So I think we will find common cause with the Pakistani government and common ways of dealing with this.”

US-BRITAIN: Ms Rice acknowledged that the circumstances of the US and those of its allies are not identical, so “we wouldn’t ask that all those countries behave the same way as the US on these issues”.

The BBC noted that one area of divergence between the two was Pakistan, and the deal that has just been struck between the new government and pro-Taliban militant leaders in the Swat valley and the Fata.“I think it’s important to be clear, one, there’s an elected Pakistani government that we support very, very strongly in the provinces as well as at the national level,” said her British counterpart while explaining his government’s policy on the Fata talks.

“Secondly, it’s got to be what the Pakistani government calls a multi-pronged strategy. That’s security, plus politics, plus economics, plus the social investment that’s absolutely necessary.

“Thirdly, the common cause that (Ms Rice) has talked about is to say -- we’re clear that there is a constitutional system that people should abide by. And if they’re willing to abide by it, they’re included. And if they self-exclude, then they have to face the consequences of the Pakistani army.”

Speaking a day earlier in Washington, Mr Miliband gave his support to the deal, saying: “We need to accept that government reconciliation efforts (in Pakistan and Afghanistan) will reach out to people that we are uncomfortable with.”