July 09, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 5, 1429

WASHINGTON, July 8: The US State Department on Tuesday refused to endorse Afghanistan’s claim that Pakistan is involved in the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul and pledged to continue to work with Pakistan to defeat terrorism.

At a news briefing in Washington, State Department’s Gonzalo Gallegos indicated that the United States believes the attack was carried out by the extremists.

“Obviously this is a tragedy,” said Mr Gallegos. “We believe that extremist elements are working to destabilise this region so that they can gain from instability and any chaos that this may bring.”

The official noted that Pakistan is America’s partner in the war against terror and the United States wants to continue this partnership.

“We’ll continue to work with the Pakistani government,” said the State Department official when asked how Washington plans to deal with this situation. “We’re going to continue to combat the common enemy that we have with the Pakistani people, and, hopefully, we’ll march toward peace.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Afghan president tried to implicate Pakistan in the suicide attack that killed 40 people, including the Indian defence attaché.

“It is pretty obvious who was behind the attack,” said the Afghan spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada.

“The sophistication of this attack and the kind of material that was used in it and the specific targeting, everything has the hallmark of a particular intelligence agency that has conducted similar terrorist acts inside Afghanistan in the past,” Mr Hamidzada said. “We have sufficient evidence to say that.”

At the State Department, spokesman Gallegos said the United States was working with all the governments in the region to end terrorism and “try to allow the people to live in peace and in a situation where they continue to develop themselves, their country, and become a bigger part of the world economy.”

Mr Gallegos said that Washington believes democracy in Pakistan will also be good for the rest of the region.

“We believe this is an important tenet. We believe this is going to provide for a secure and stable environment,” he added.

“We continue to work with the Pakistani government to fight our common enemy, which is these terrorist extremists who are willing to kill Muslims, Christians, anybody who gets in the way of the path, which is what they seek, which is instability and chaos so that they can prosper under that realm,” he said.