WASHINGTON: The United States is so far satisfied with Pakistan’s efforts to fight the Taliban and strongly supports the military offensive in Swat, says a top White House official.

White House National Security Adviser Gen James Jones told a Washington think-tank on Wednesday evening that he was heartened also by the ‘receptiveness’ of the Pakistani people to the military offensive.

‘The response by the military so far has the support of the Pakistani people,’ Gen Jones told the forum. ‘The government’s popularity has shot up a little bit in the polls and that is going to have an effect in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.’

He, however, acknowledged that it was too soon to gauge results of the revamped US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, but its prospects for success should become clear within a year.

‘With the right metrics and the right benchmarks, I think that we should know within in a year whether this strategy is going to be successful,’ he said.

He added that the US strategy involved much more than military victory. ‘It’s not about how many troops you put on the ground,’ Gen Jones said. ‘It’s whether you can achieve security, economic development and governance and the rule of law simultaneously.’