Taliban not India is the real threat to Pak: Zardari

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said Pakistan has realized that the Taliban and other extremists based in the western tribal area of the country pose the real existential threat to it rather than India. In an interview with a private television channel, Gates said Pakistan has acknowledged that the real threat to its existence come from the extremists based in the lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border and not from India.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari says targeting the Taliban rather than India does not rankle his army because the two nuclear armed countries no longer pose threats to each others territories. "It rankles the small mind," he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview published Monday.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan President Asif Zardari has said he would like to be remembered in Pakistan for creating a country free of militancy. "I would love to be remembered for creating a Pakistan where militancy - I know it can't totally be diminished - is defeated," The Telegraph quoted Zardari, as saying.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who has the backing of top military commanders for his goodwill gestures towards India, has said that the army is united in dealing with the threat emanating from militants and are no more worried about the Indian threat. In Pakistan civil leaders always operate in the shadow of the military, but Zardari appears to have backing of the army high command for some controversial stances, a report in The Telegraph states.

June 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Taliban operating in Pakistan pose a "real threat" to India, the region and the world, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Thursday.

May 23rd, 2009 LAHORE - Hinting that the military offensive against the Taliban and other extremist groups could be expanded into other regions than the Swat Valley, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the Taliban would be hunted down everywhere inside the country's geographical territory. In an interview to a private television channel, Zardari refuted media reports that quoted him as saying that the government is planning to carry out military operations in Waziristan after Swat.

May 17th, 2009 NEW YORK - Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said that the people of the country do not support the incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari over the idea of announcing an 'all out' war against the Taliban in the Swat Valley. In an interview with the CNN, Musharraf claimed that only 19 percent of the Pakistanis supported Zardari to fight the Taliban.

May 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Responding strongly to critics of his administration in the United States, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday that the war against extremists and militants in the tribal badlands had begun much before the 9/11 strikes across America. "It's a war of our existence," Zardari told NBC News's Meet the Press.

May 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Asif Ali Zardari has said he knew the Swat peace deal with the Taliban would not work, even as the Pakistan Army intensified its operation against the militant group in the troubled region. The Pakistani Army's advance in Swat marks the failure of Islamabad's boldest attempt yet to compromise with the Taliban.

May 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that all Madarsas in the countries would be taken over by the government to separate the students from extremism and impart modern as well as religious education to them. Speaking at a community dinner here, Zardari said his government has resolved to bring reforms in the Madarsas system and bring it under the government system.

May 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the military operation in the North West Frontier Province's Swat Valley would continue until the Taliban and other extremist groups are completely flushed out, and 'normalcy' returns to the troubled region. Addressing a joint press conference with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai and US Senator John Kerry here, Zardari said: "It is going to carry on until life in Swat comes back to normalcy." Zardari's statement came after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani declared an all out war against the Taliban in restive Swat and Malakand Divisions of the NWFP.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Concerned by reports of an imminent threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal from the Taliban, US Senator Richard Luger has asked President Obama to force Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to ensure the safety of the nukes. According to The Nation, Senate foreign committee member, Luga,r urged Obama to ask Zardari to step up security for Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

May 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Ahead of his much awaited meeting with US President Barack Obama, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the United States to provide Predator drone aircrafts to Islamabad to enable it to counter the expanding terror threat in the country more effectively. "I need drones to be part of my arsenal.

May 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Dispelling fears about the safety of the nuclear arsenal of the country, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the country's nuclear weapons are in safe custody. In an interview with a US television channel, Zardari ruled out threats posed by the militants to the nuclear weapons, as long as the military exists in the country.

May 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said he is eager to start talks with India soon to establish peace between both the nations. Zardari, who is in Washington to take part in a trilateral summit with his US and Afghanistan counterparts, said he was waiting for the Indian general elections to get over so that peace initiatives could be resumed, which was disrupted after the heightened tension in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.