WASHINGTON, Feb 15: Pakistan faces strong pressure from two of its former allies in Washington — the Pentagon and the Republicans — as Defence Secretary Leon Panetta urges Islamabad to be a “part of the answer” in curtailing IED attacks on American soldiers.

On Capitol Hill, some Republican lawmakers introduced a bill, seeking US citizenship and a congressional medal for a physician Pakistan is holding on treason charges.

Mr Panetta testified before a Senate and a House committee on Tuesday and Wednesday, pushing Islamabad to address the issue of Pakistan- manufactured improvised explosive devices that continue to be a major cause of death of American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Mr Panetta claimed that the supplies of IEDs continued to come from Pakistan and this’s an area where Pakistanis needed “to be effective at trying to cut back on these”.

“We have made very clear to them (Pakistan) that, where these threats emanate from, we have identified locations. We’ve directed them to specific sites. We have urged them to take steps,” he said.

Mr Panetta said in some ways the IED issue related to the prevalence of alleged Taliban safe havens in Pakistan.

Gen Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said America’s relations with Pakistan had been somewhat challenged.

“They’re improving. And this is one of the points of friction between us that we have to get at,” he said.

On Capitol Hill, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, introduced a bill that would make Dr Shakeel Afridi an American citizen in return for his work gathering intelligence that helped US forces locate and kill Osama bin Laden last May. Mr Rohrabacher also intends to recommend Afridi for the Congressional Gold Medal later this week.

“We are trying to honour him because he helped bring the man responsible for killing nearly 3,000 Americans to justice,” Mr Rohrabacher told FoxNews.com. “He did so at a great personal risk. He deserves our deepest gratitude.”