Washington: In a stern warning to Pakistan, President Barack Obama on Tuesday asserted that his administration would not allow "safe havens" for al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists operating with "impunity" in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
This is the message his special envoy Richard Holbrooke, currently in Islamabad, has been asked to deliver to Pakistan, said Obama.
"My bottom line is that we cannot allow al-Qaeda to operate. We cannot have those safe havens in that region," Obama said in his first press conference after assuming office on January 20.
"You've got the Taliban and al-Qaeda operating in the Federally-administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and these border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he added.
The 47-year-old US President said that one of the goals of Holbrooke, as he is traveling throughout the region, is to deliver a message to Pakistan that they are "endangered as much as we are by the continuation of those operations, and that we've got to work in a regional fashion to root out those safe havens".
Obama, who took questions on the situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in his hour-long news conference, said that the US has not seen concerted efforts to destroy such 'safe havens'.
"What we haven't seen is the kind of concerted effort to root out those safe havens that would ultimately make our mission successful," he added.
"We're going to have to work both smartly and effectively, but with consistency in order to make sure that those safe havens don't exist," said the US President.
The new administration is carrying out a thorough review of the US policies on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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