'Pak a complicated country; needs US support'

Noting that Pakistan is a complicated country, which faces huge economic, energy and water shortage, a top Obama administration official has said that the country needs the United States' support.

In a session 'Conversations with America', Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke also said the Taliban continue to have sanctuaries in Pakistan and continue to cross over the border for attacks inside Afghanistan.

"Pakistan is a complicated country that faces huge economic, energy and water problems. It has a long-standing set of concerns vis-a-vis its giant nature (sic) to the east, which have to be dealt with, and it faces an insurgency in the west, which is very dangerous both to them and to the US because it's from that area, in western part of the country, that attacks are launched against American and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops," Holbrooke said on Monday.

"In this overall context, the Pakistanis are dealing with their problems. But it needs our support," Holbrooke said at a session 'Conversations with America', the first in a series of live video discussions regarding Department of State and US foreign policy.

Last year, the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill passed by US Congress and signed by US President Barack Obama authorised $# 7.5 billion over five years in economic assistance.

Holbrooke said the US is working hard with the International Monetary Fund, to make sure that the standby agreements are extended. "We are working with the Pakistani leadership on every one of the economic water and energy issues that we can. This is a vast undertaking. And because we have worldwide commitments, we, the United States, cannot do it all alone."

However, he appreciated the international community to have come forward to help Pakistan. "We went to Tokyo last April and had a major conference which raised $ 5-1/2 billion of commitments. They haven't all arrived yet, but they're still in the process of arriving. And we want to do more than that for Pakistan," Holbrooke said.

The US is in Pakistan without military troops but with a vast array of economic, political, psychological and other instruments, in order to strengthen Pakistanis who have their own set of problems -- economic, political and regional -- in order to strengthen them, he said.

"This is not an easy policy. No one pretends otherwise. So once again to go back to your core question, we're there because our homeland security, our national interests, require it. We will persevere because we have to," he added.

Image: Richard Holbrooke