Taliban don’t want Pak becoming a modern state: Holbrooke

US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said that Taliban do not want Pakistan becoming a modern state, US was determined to help Pakistan in combating terrorism and US-Pakistan facing the common enemy operating in Afghanistan from Pakistan besides Taliban wanted to harm Pakistan government, the people and democracy, he concluded. In an exclusive interview to a private TV at US State Department, Richard Holbrooke said that misgivings between US-Pakistan being blown up by those, who do not understand what to do in the present situation. He said that some extremists were in Pakistan and some other in Afghanistan and they were working in coordination. US wanted to protect the Pakistan people from the extremists and would continue to help Pakistan government.He said that prior to this interview, he had talks with President Zardari, who also thought US stance correct. President Zardari and Barrack Obama meeting was expected in a week. Holbrooke said that US providing all out help to Pak for combating terrorism. Tokyo Conference announced $5 billion assistance to Pakistan, he said. Referring to drone attacks, Holbrooke said that the extremists didn’t want democracy in Pak, it was imperative to fight out the common enemy, but he didn’t elaborate it. He said that Baitullah Mehsud, Osama bin laden, Molvi Fazlullah and Taliban leader Molvi Umar didn’t want Pakistan becoming a modern state in accordance with the wishes of the Founder of Pakistan and they wanted Maulanization in Pakistan, but People’s Party and ML-N were in government through democracy. When quizzed that ISI chief General Pasha had refused to meet him, Holbrooke said that such thing didn’t happen, meeting with General Pasha in Pakistan and Washington had taken place besides meetings with General Kayani were also held and all of them understand that we were faced with difficult situation. Regarding restoration of judges, he said that Hillary Clinton and he had talked on phone with president Zardari and Nawaz Sharif on march 15 and they were advised to be cautious and lower tension in the interest of the nation and the Pakistani leadership on this issue took a surprising decision. He said, “We have a common goal, but till now success could not be achieved in Afghanistan, it is a complex issue, we are providing training in Pakistan for combating terrorism, Al Qaeda and Taliban moving to Afghanistan from Pakistan.” When quizzed on Kashmir, Holbrooke said that his mandate was limited to Pakistan and Afghanistan and he couldn’t say anything about it.