Clinton lauds Pakistani crackdown

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By Jon Ward and Joseph Weber

UPDATED:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday lauded a military offensive by Pakistan's government against Taliban militants, following meetings in Washington with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"I'm actually quite impressed by the actions that the Pakistani government is now taking. Action was called for, and action has now been forthcoming," Mrs. Clinton said, speaking to reporters at the White House in an unscheduled public appearance.

Pakistan's military has launched operations against militants in the Swat Valley and in the Buner region, which lies just 60 miles west of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. Mr. Zardari has been criticized in the days leading up to his visit to Washington for not acting sooner and more decisively against rebel fighters.

Critics have said that many in Pakistan's government, including Mr. Zardari, have not seen the Taliban as the existential threat to Pakistani sovereignty that it is, and have instead remained focused on Pakistan's long-running, tense rivalry with India, its neighbor to the east.

But Mrs. Clinton said she thought that a "paradigm shift" has taken place in Pakistani thinking.

"I think that has occurred," she said.

She also reinforced messages of strong support for Mr. Zardari, saying the United States should be "a little more understanding on our part about what he confronted."

"He inherited a very difficult and unmanageable situation," Mrs. Clinton said.

Mr. Zardari and Mr. Karzai headed to the White House as well Wednesday afternoon to meet with President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for talks on cooperation measures to crack down on al Qaeda and Taliban activity along the border of the two countries, as well as a wider range of cooperative matters to strengthen civil society and limit extremism.