Holbrooke: Pakistan must cut terror havens

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke says Pakistan must eliminate safe havens used by terrorists in the country's northwestern tribal areas.

Speaking Wednesday in Islamabad, Holbrooke, U.S. President Barack Obama's special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, promised Obama would fully support any efforts to root out terrorists from the country's lawless tribal regions, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

Holbrooke met with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, leader of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service.

The U.S. envoy told them the Obama administration was ready to back the proposed Kerry-Lugar Bill, under which non-military aid to Pakistan would triple over the next decade. In return, Holbrooke said, the United States wanted to see the tribal areas cleared of hideouts for al-Qaida and the Taliban, Dawn reported.

Qureshi told reporters Islamabad will set up an interagency committee to help recraft the U.S. policy on Pakistan.