US vows long fight on extremism after Pakistan bombing
WASHINGTON: The United States vowed Monday to step up efforts
to help Pakistan in a long fight against South Asian extremism following
a massive hotel bombing in Islamabad that killed scores of people.
“This is a long-term process ... to root out extremism in this part
of the world. It’s going to take time, but we’re going to be persistent
in our efforts,” State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
“We’ve pledged our cooperation to Pakistan and to the government of
Afghanistan to do what we can to help,” he said. “We are going to
redouble our efforts to try to counter this extremism that threatens
stability in the region.”
At least 60 people were killed, including two Americans, the Czech
ambassador and a Vietnamese woman, on Saturday when a suicide bomber
rammed a truck packed with explosives into the security gates of the
Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. More than 260 people
were wounded.
A contractor for the US State Department was unaccounted for
following the hotel bombing, Wood said, but he was unable to provide
details as to the missing contractor’s nationality.
“If you look at what happened on Saturday, this is an example of why
we, the Pakistanis, the Afghans, need to work and redouble our efforts
to counter extremism in this region,” Wood said.
“We’ll continue to work with the Pakistanis on trying to deal with
the Taliban and Al-Qaeda threat, not only in the tribal areas, but over
in Afghanistan,” he told reporters.
Tuesday, AFP |