WASHINGTON: Both the Pentagon and the State Department on Tuesday welcomed Pakistan’s latest military offensive against the Taliban and offered full support.

US officials also hoped that Pakistan would ‘sustain’ this action, unlike in the past when the army either withdrew or ended up signing a peace deal.

The operation against the militants in Dir and Buner was “exactly the appropriate response” to halt the Taliban’s progress, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

‘We are encouraging of these efforts,’ Mr Morrell said. ‘We hope they can sustain these operations.’

The Pentagon also asked Islamabad to take ‘forceful action’ against the advancing militants in other areas and assured of the Obama administration’s full support.

‘We are hopeful and encouraging of the Pakistani military that they are able to sustain these operations against the militants and to stem this encroachment on the more populated areas of Pakistan,’ the Pentagon spokesman told a briefing in Washington.

‘We think that the military operations that are under way in Buner and Dir districts are exactly the appropriate response to the offensive operations by the Taliban and other militants over the past few weeks,’ he said.

At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood said that Washington would support the Pakistan government in its fight against the militants.

‘We will be with them as they continue to fight these extremists... What Pakistan needs to do with these extremists is not to give in to them and to take forceful action. We will be supporting them as best we can as they go forward,’ he said.