August 10, 2008	Sunday	Sha’aban 7, 1429

WASHINGTON, Aug 9: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that there’s no negotiated settlement to the problem of extremism in Fata.

In an interview to a Washington-based political media outlet The Politico, Ms Rice also expressed America’s desire to help Pakistan’s current rulers succeed but warned that they should not negotiate with the ‘irreconcilables’ in tribal areas.

“I would say they’re not our theoretical ally; they are our ally,” said Ms Rice. “There are elements in Pakistan that one worries” about and they had “connections to the militants in the region” but the country remains a strong US ally, she added.

Commenting on Islamabad’s approach to engage the militants for seeking a negotiated settlement of the problem of terrorism, the secretary said: “There are also clearly efforts that we think are not working to have deals, if you will, or negotiated solutions to the militant problem. But the point is that these militants are as deadly and dangerous for Pakistan as they are for Afghanistan.”

She then urged Pakistanis to look at Benazir Bhutto’s assassination to understand how serious this problem was. “Just witness the fact that one of the networks there was – is widely believed to be responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” she said.

When asked why was the US reluctant to take a bolder and tougher stance on Pakistan’s failure to control terrorism, Ms Rice said: “I think we’re taking a pretty bold stand. And by the way, the Pakistanis themselves understand that they need to take a bolder stand.”

She acknowledged that extremism had taken a place in Pakistan in part because of the transit of extremist elements coming out of Afghanistan after the defeat of the Soviet Union.

Explaining the US position that Pakistan should not talk to the extremists, Ms Rice said: “There are certain irreconcilables” who could not be engaged.

“You also have to do it through longer-term ways of providing education, for the people who might now study in radical madressahs, study in schools that will teach them skills,” she added.

“You have to do it through the economic and social development of places like the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which are deadly poor – really poor.”

The secretary reminded the interviewer who urged her to get tougher with Pakistan that the country now had a democratically elected government. “That’s something that the United States advocated for. And we’re going to be a partner and a friend of that government.”