A fatal clash between gunmen and police brings renewed focus on Pakistan and the city of Lahore.
This comes just days after U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to revamp diplomacy efforts in the region.
Hello, I’m Charlotte Bellis and you’re watching Newsy.com. That was video from the BBC.
The network spoke with a witness to the attack who says Pakistan is tired of war:
“We have played a major role against the war on terror and yet we have suffered the most. We believe the time has come to pull out of this war and remain neutral.” (BBC)
Channel News Asia reports four terrorists died in the attack, and four others have been arrested. They go on to report…
“Such is the scale of unrest in the frontline state of the ‘war on terror’… US President Barack Obama called Al-Qaeda and its allies ‘a cancer that risks killing Pakistan’ and urged Islamabad to eradicate extremists.” (Channel News Asia)
NPR spoke with Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, who discussed the consequences of Pakistani violence.
“We are putting very heavy emphasis on the simplest of facts. Al Qaeda is still around. It’s mainly in Western Pakistan and it’s planning—I’m sure as we speak—new attacks on the United States and Europe or other countries fighting in Afghanistan.” (NPR)
FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly talked with former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich says the combined strategy with Afghanistan and Pakistan illustrates the seriousness of U.S. efforts in the region:
“We are going to be prepared to go into Pakistan if we need to. We’re gonna be prepared to hunt down Al Qaeda, the Taliban if we need to. We’d like the Pakistanis to do it, but it’s gonna get done.”
“And I think winning in that region is very, very important to us.” (FOX News)
Pakistan and Afghanistan will be major topics of discussion at the G20 summit in London.
What does the latest terrorist attack in Pakistan mean for the region? Do you think including Pakistan in the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan is a good idea?
