Pak, US working closely: Boucher

WASHINGTON—US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Richard Boucher has said that Pakistan has taken a number of steps to deal with the Taliban problem, stating that the US would extend co-operation in the economic development of the border areas.
In a recent interaction with the media in Ottawa, Canada, Boucher said the United States is working very closely with Pakistan in counter-terrorism and pointed out that the Taliban problem has to be addressed through concerted efforts by all.
“They’ve taken action, military action and political action —they’ve taken action in terms of law enforcement. You’ve seen them talk about Taliban that they’ve arrested,” he said according to the transcript of the interaction released by the Department of State on Tuesday.
Boucher said President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani government are aware of the Taliban threat to the region and disagreed with a journalist who questioned the country’s willingness to counter the problem.—Agencies