Pakistani Ambassador: U.S. Needs to Be "Robin Hood" in Tribal Areas
Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.N., Abdullah Hussain Haroon, spoke to CBS News about U.S.-Pakistan cooperation in the investigation of the case of Pakistani-American would-be bomber Faisal Shahzad and what needs to be done to eliminate jihadists in the tribal regions of Pakistan.
"We have to realize that this threat is more dire to the world than any other threat there's ever been and it tends to encompass the globe with shadows and those shadows strike at will and manage to create havoc, harm and hurt innocents, " Haroon said.
"When the Americans moved into Afghanistan, they talked about three aspects, thirty percent being military, and seventy percent being rebuilding of infrastructure and, of course, resettling and rebuilding of Afghanistan. Now, the military part has happened, but nobody has been able to do the rest."
Ambassador Haroon put some of the burden on regional clerics, saying that they must be clear that suicide bombing is condemned; if they do that - even declare a fatwah on suicide bombers -- then the steam would be taken out of some of the attacks across the world.
Special Section: Terrorism in the U.S.
"We join you," he said, "And express our very strong condemnation of the attempted terrorist which has caused the government and the people of Pakistan immense concern. We consider this a despicable act of terror. It only serves to fortify the resolve of the international community; that we should join ranks to eliminate this evil."
The United States, he said, must also increase aid to schools, to communities in the impoverished tribal areas; U.S. aid must be increased, not as a handout, but in training, cooperation and tariff reduction, according to Haroon - so that it is the U.S. and Pakistan would be the "Robin Hoods" in the region.
Haroon: "You are not fighting against an organized army, you are fighting against a nebulous series of cells."
The Obama Administration needs to increase military aid, as well. Predator drones would only be accepted in Pakistan, if they are transferred to the Pakistani military. Progress he said, has been made in both South and North Waziristan -- but the Pakistani military is tapped out.
This story was filed by CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, based at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
