Pakistan Rejects Panetta's Remarks on Safe Havens

Pakistan on Saturday branded U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's remarks on insurgent safe havens in the country as "misplaced and unhelpful".

Panetta warned Pakistan on Thursday that the U.S. was running out of patience over Islamabad's refusal to do more to eliminate hiding places for insurgents, who attack U.S. troops fighting a 10-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Panetta made the comments after talks with Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak during an Asian tour that took him to Pakistan's arch-rival India, but not Islamabad in a sign of dire U.S.-Pakistan relations.

"Pakistan strongly rejects the assertions made recently by U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta regarding 'safe havens' in Pakistan," foreign ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan said in a statement.

"We feel that the Secretary of Defense is oversimplifying some of the very complex issues we are all dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism."

Panetta singled out the Haqqani network, a Taliban and al-Qaida-linked faction that has bases in Pakistan's lawless tribal district of North Waziristan and which has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan has repeatedly said that it will not allow its territory to be used against any country, nor will it allow any safe havens on its territory," the spokesman said.

He stressed that Pakistan was fighting terrorism and extremism in its own national interest and "nobody should doubt our resolve and determination in this regard".

"Our sacrifices remain unparalleled and our resolve unshakable," he said.

"We strongly believe that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region."

The statement came as U.S. assistant defense Secretary Peter Lavoy visited Islamabad in a fresh attempt to bring an end a six-month blockade on NATO supplies crossing into Afghanistan.

Islamabad's closure of the Afghan border to NATO following the November 2011 air strikes that killed 24 soldiers plunged relations with U.S. to an all-time low after Pakistan was humiliated by a U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May.