US reads the riot act to Pakistan

As a team of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials landed in Islamabad to probe any possible Pakistani links to
the failed Times Square bombing case, the US today warned Pakistan that it will face "very severe consequences" if any
terror plot was traced to that country.

"We've made it very clear that if, heaven-forbid, an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences," secretary of state Hillary Clinton told the CBS news channel in an interview that is scheduled to be aired tomorrow.

Clinton said that US expects more cooperation in fighting terror from the Pakistan government and warned there could be repercussion if any future successful terror attacks in America were linked to Pakistan.

The secretary of state said Pakistan's attitude toward fighting Islamic terrorists has changed remarkably.

"We've gotten more cooperation and it's been a real sea change in the commitment we've seen from the Pakistan government. (But) We want more. We expect more," she said.

Assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told PTI that Pakistan needs to expand its operation against Punjab-based terrorist outfits including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM).

Though both these terrorist groups are mainly operating against India, there has been increasing evidences of LeT and JeM now targeting against the US.

Such a statement coming from the top US official is a marked change in their statements since the post-Times Square bomb incident in New York City last Saturday, as it has so far been defending Pakistan for its action against terrorism.

A Pakistani-American, Faisal Shahzad, has been arrested on charges of plotting to explode a bomb at Times Square.

He has told investigating authorities that he received bomb-making training in a terrorist camp in Waziristan.

Individuals and relatives arrested in Pakistan in connection with this plot, according to media reports in Washington, has had well established links with terrorist outfits like Pakistani Taliban and JeM. One report even said Shahzad had closed links with the master-mind of the Mumbai terrorist attack.

A team of FBI officials landed in Pakistan today to probe any possible Pakistani links into the failed bomb attack.

The main stream American media has widely written after the Times Square incident that Pakistan still wants to retain the strategic leverage to use non-state actors against India; just like it has been using LeT and JeM in Kashmir and in other parts of India. "India is still seen as the major state-based threat," General David H Petraeus, Commander, US Central Command told the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank, in an interview.

"In fact they've just completed an exercise, some 50,000 Pakistani military forces, similar to the old Nato exercises that we used to run in the days of the Cold War," Petraeus said.

Since coming to power, US president Barack Obama has been trying his best to convince Pakistan that India does not pose a threat to its existence.

"There's no question about the image still in their mind of the threat that is posed by India to their security," Petraeus said.