in north waziristan and in the tribal areas, generally. this is within a framework of our security assistance to pakistan, which has six objectives, basically centered around counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. it's our belief that the f-16s have been used very effectively. the precision strike capability to take out terrorist targets, including safe havens that threaten our forces in afghanistan. >> reclaiming my time. my question -- >> yes. >> very specific. does the pakistan military, the government, do they still give a safe haven or support directly or indirectly terrorist groups? i mean, they may go after some terrorist groups, but do they still give them a safe haven or a pass? whatever word you want to use. or are they after all of the terrorist groups? do we have any assurance one way or the other? >> well, congressman, with regard to these groups, we have had a very active dialogue with them where we have pressed them repeatedly to take action against those groups that have a presence on pakistani soil. including the haqqani

in north waziristan and in the tribal areas, generally. this is within a framework of our security assistance to pakistan, which has six objectives, basically centered around counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. it's our belief that the f-16s have been used very effectively. the precision strike capability to take out terrorist targets, including safe havens that threaten our forces in afghanistan. >> reclaiming my time. my question -- >> yes. >> very specific. does the pakistan military, the government, do they still give a safe haven or support directly or indirectly terrorist groups? i mean, they may go after some terrorist groups, but do they still give them a safe haven or a pass? whatever word you want to use. or are they after all of the terrorist groups? do we have any assurance one way or the other? >> well, congressman, with regard to these groups, we have had a very active dialogue with them where we have pressed them repeatedly to take action against those groups that have a presence on pakistani soil. including the haqqani

and north waziristan and the tribal areas generally. this is within a framework of our security assistance to pakistan, which has six objectives basically centered around counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. it is our belief that the f-16s have been used very effectively. the precision strike capability to take out terrorist targets including safe havens that threaten our forces in afghanistan. specific.tion is very military,akistan government, do they still give a safe haven or support, directly or indirectly to terrorist groups? terroristo after some groups but do they still give them a safe haven or a pass, or are they after all of the terrorist groups? do we have any assurance when white when the other? congressman, with regard to these groups, we have had a very active dialogue with them where we have pressed them repeatedly to take action against those groups that have a presence on pakistani soil. networkg the haqqani and the taliban in general, and also lashkar-e-taib a. they have their operations in north waziristan, have ha

>> pakistan has launched operations in north waziristan. they have reasserted their sovereign authority over -- >> albrecht and what kind of attacks have they done? we did sorties against isis in the summer of a year and a half ago but they were not really meaningful. we were doing five to 10 maybe a month it if you are serious you go in and a night like that. >> they have completely -- annihilate. they have completely cleared the city which was the headquarters of the haqqani network. they cleared the city and cleared all the networks. they have taken 488 casualties just been death, just amongst their soldiers, just and operations. i think the commitment is a serious to fighting terrorism. but the concerns that we have, and i flagged it is, is that we think that more needs to be done against the haqqani network and some of the groups that threaten pakistan's neighbors, not just the ones that threatened them internally. >> if you look at the recent attack in california, tashfeen malik study out of a woman's religious school in pakistan. it'

i think it is safe to say that the attacks that the clearing of north waziristan has resulted in disruption, if not elimination

north waziristan was where many of these militants, including the haqqani network were based. it was completely cleared, including the haqqani network facilities and armaments, bunkers were uncovered and destroyed, and arms caches taken away, including 160 times of precursors for improvised explosive devices. this has had and it -- and disruptive effect, not only on the pakistani taliban but also on the haqqani network, and by the way al qaeda, which probably had some presence there as well. pakistanis including isi have corporate it with us in taking down al qaeda cells, including a man who was wanted for his plotting of attacks on the new york subway, and one other american citizen who was extradited from pakistan in april of this year. there has been quite a bit of counterterrorism cooperation between isi and the pakistan government at large, and the united states. >> my time has expired but i think as we look at u.s. policy toward pakistan, this is something we need to carefully consider. >> the chair thanks the gentlelady and now recognizes himself. i had the privilege of

they have been used against terrorists in north waziristan and in the tribal areas. the precision strike capability of the f-16s, and our programs are focused on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. >> i understand the value of the weapon system and what it can do. we are very frustrated that for the american people's involvement, we do not see a whole lot coming on the other side of the ledger. that is my personal perspective. >> thank you, mr. chair. i think you have probably touched on some of these answers already, but i really want to deal with my own concerns like congressman higgins and cook and others. i am troubled about the reports of pakistan's development of what i consider to be de-tactical nuclear weapons at a faster rate than any other country. i want to understand more clearly your assessment of pakistan's cooperation on nuclear proliferation concerns. the second part of that question has to do with recent media reports suggesting that our administration is considering some kind of nuclear arrangement with pakistan. i am not clear what is a nuclear

it's re-established control over most of north waziristan.and i think there is increasing recognition on the part of the government of pakistan that there is significant bleedover between the pakistani taliban and the afghan taliban. and that this is one of the motivations for their desire to, you know, that it is no longer so simple for them as it may have been in the past. even if they in principle agree to distinguish between good and bad taliban. the other important point is i think that they recognize the outreach that president ghani has made to pakistan and recognize that this is a historic opportunity and they would like to seize on that. that's why we think there is, amongst several reasons there is a possibility for moving forward on a reconciliation process now because there's a greater degree of alignment on these issues between afghanistan and pakistan than there has been for some time in the past. >> what about the second part of the question? >> the second part, sir, the president's decision is to go to the 5,500 troops after t

or pakistani taliban that have fled the fighting from the pakistan military's operations in north waziristan. but clearly isis has its sights on afghanistan and is seeking to make inroads there. so this started back in january, when isis launched what it calls the corazan group in south asia. that's what it's calling itself in south asia. this is actually an islamic historical term for the area that encompasses what's now afghanistan and the boardiborde states of afghanistan. according to the sayings of the prophet mohammed, south central asia maintains a key role in establishing a global caliphate. the ambassador who was the pakistan ambassador to the u.s. and a prominent writer on developments in this part of the world has written about how one hadith refers to a battle of india, and this is the final battle between muslims and non-muslims which would occur before the end times. and furthermore, another hadith says an army with black flags will emerge from corazan to help the redeemer of islam establish the caliphate at mecca. so isis is using these references in the hadith to recruit in s

>> congressman, pakistan has launched operations in north waziristan, re asseasserting th authority. >> we did sorties against isis a year and a half ago, but they weren't really meaningful. we were doing five to ten, maybe, a month. if you're serious, you go in and annihilate that. >> they have completely cleared the city of mirinshah, which was the headquarters of the hakani network and the taliban. i've been to downtown mirinshah, there is no one there. they clear the city and cleared all of the networks. they've taken 488 casualties, deaths among soldiers just in operation zarbiaz. i think their commitment is serious to fighting terrorism. but the concern that we have, sir, and i have flagged this, is that we think that more needs to be done against the hakani network and some of the groups that threaten pakistan's neighbors, not justly the ones that threaten them internally. >> and if you look at the react attack in california, tashfeen malik studied at an all women's islamic religious school in pakistan. it's still working against us, still creating terrorism. the debate largel

we know from officers who retired there was debate whether pakistan should proceed into north waziristan in late 2009 and early 2010. so we see there's evidence of these debates. i think we're more likely to have than disassociate ourselves with that. >> i don't necessarily -- i agree with sameer we should engage pakistan, you have to engage pakistan we should not go into sanctioning pakistan and isolating it, that's not going to have a positive impact. but there are two issues. one, simply looking at nonproliferation issues and

we know from officers who retired there was debate whether pakistan should proceed into north waziristan in late 2009 and early 2010. so we see there's evidence of these debates. i think we're more likely to have than disassociate ourselves with that. >> i don't necessarily -- i agree with sameer we should engage pakistan, you have to engage pakistan we should not go into sanctioning pakistan and isolating it, that's not going to have a positive impact. but there are two issues. one, simply looking at nonproliferation issues and movement on various treatments and norms and strategic arms control and tactical nuclear arms control in isolation and other putting it into a broader geopolitical context and within the context of the state's grand strategy. i don't think -- at least for me, i cannot understand how progress could be made, pakistan to turn around on the nuclear issues without pakistan making movement on the its grand strategy. and i think the united states needs to engage pakistan on both fronts simultaneously. >> i argue it hard to imagine success in this area without also engag

we know from officers who retired there was debate whether pakistan should proceed into north waziristan. in late 2009 and early 2010. so we see there's evidence of these debates. i think we're more likely to have than disassociate ourselves with that. >> i don't necessarily -- i agree with sameer we should engage pakistan, you have to engage pakistan we should not go into sanctioning pakistan and isolating it, that's not going to have a positive impact. but there are two issues. one, simply looking at nonproliferation issues and movement on various treatments and norms and strategic arms control and tactical nuclear arms control in isolation and other putting it into a broader geopolitical context and within the context of the state's grand strategy. i don't think -- at least for me, i cannot understand how progress could be made, pakistan to turn around on the nuclear issues without pakistan making movement on the its grand strategy. and i think the united states needs to engage pakistan on both fronts simultaneously. >> i argue it hard to imagine success in this area without also enga

operation going on to root out extremism in the so-called federal territories or fatah or north and south waziristan. one have -- all one has to do is to think about vast territories in iraq where people are living under extremely grim conditions. many of those areas controlled by isil. all one has to do is to think about what's going on in syria right now and how life must be that it pushes people to take their small kids and try to cross very dangerous seas in order to get to a safer place. all of that are just examples of how difficult right now life is for many, many millions of muslims throughout the muslim world. so, for them post-9/11 world has been a disaster. so, the following statement that i just showed you earlier -- let me go back to that -- by president bush at his second inaugural address shows there has been much talk about bringing liberty to lands, mostly occupied by muslim that do not otherwise have a tradition of this kind of, you know, freedom or liberty. but muslims have played a double and, therefore, confusing role in this battle for liberty while maintaining security. thus,

honest, i would not believe the assessment for the simple reason why we launched operations in north waziristanwhich was a huge successful, simultaneously we also launched operations against various other extremist organizations throughout the country. these were intelligence-based operations. and we are also producing results. i'm sure that you are familiar with the dreaded organization which was also responsible for the killing of -- the ethnic killings, so that has been utilized. similar other organizations or many other extremist elements they have been taken out. this campaign is ongoing. this was a phenomena as i mentioned if you look at the figures of the last several years, there has been a marked reduction in the incidents of terrorism in pakistan. according to some of the independent organization, this reduction is almost 60% to 70% in violence and extremism. these are ongoing efforts. obviously you can't have a magic wand to bring an end to this phenomena which was spreading in many countries. but the good thing is, the positive news is, that in pakistan we have been able to contain