WASHINGTON, July 26: The Pakistani government is not doing enough to eradicate terrorist groups that have taken roots in the country, says an influential US newspaper.

In a hard-hitting editorial published on Tuesday, Los Angeles Times advises President Pervez Musharraf to ‘ensure that Pakistan is known for exports other than terrorism’.

“It is not that Pakistanis are more inclined toward terrorism than are citizens of any other country. It is that (Gen) Musharraf is unable, or unwilling, to confront the terrorists in his midst.”

The newspaper criticizes President Musharraf for saying that like Pakistan, Britain also has a problem with Islamic terrorism and the British government needs to address it.

The paper acknowledges that Pakistan has arrested hundreds of suspected terrorists, including top Al Qaeda operatives, and that for his efforts, President Musharraf has twice been the target of assassins.

The paper argues that President Musharraf could direct his subordinates ‘to crack down harder,’ instead of following the current pattern of working under foreign pressure.

“When outside pressure reaches a boil, he reacts. When the pressure eases, so does he. That is not good enough,” says the newspaper.

The Times acknowledges that the US made a mistake when it turned away from Islamabad as the Cold War ended. “But after 9/11, Washington’s interest rekindled, the US agreed to provide the impoverished nation with $3 billion, much of it to be spent on secular schools that teach reading and maths, not just religion.”

“President Musharraf should use the money to educate a generation adhering to the moderate form of Islam that most of the country has long practiced,” the paper concludes.