Rice said Pakistan focused on threats

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The Pakistani government is focused on terrorist threats and understands its responsibility to respond, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

In a news conference after meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zadari, Rice said she and Zadari had "extensive discussions" in Islamabad about continuing cooperation "against our joint enemies in the war on terror."

Rice traveled to Pakistan after meeting with leaders in India to discuss terrorism and the attacks on Mumbai, which India blames on militants from Pakistan.

"We talked at some length about the attack on Mumbai and about the importance of Pakistan taking its responsibility to deal with those who may use Pakistani territory even if they are non-state actors," she said of her discussion with Zadari.

She said she found the Pakistani government to be "very focused" and committed to investigating the Mumbai attacks.

"It does not in any way want to be associated with terrorist elements and is indeed fighting to root them out wherever they find them," she said. "And therefore, I found these conversations quite satisfactory."

She said she heard "nothing but reasonable discussions" between India and Pakistan, despite reports that relations between the two countries were strained.

The United States "is prepared to help in whatever way we can," Rice said. "But obviously, the best thing is that these two countries do what they can through their own capacity to fully investigate and to bring people to justice who perpetrated that."