'All options on table if Pak continues to support terrorism'

"If they continue to embrace terrorism as a part of their national strategy, we're going to have to put all options on the table including defending our troops," Senator Lindsay Graham told the Fox news in an interview.

Using a tough language against Pakistan, Graham said it is a time of choosing for Pakistan, which so far the US has been identifying as a key ally in the war against terrorism.

"I am saying that we know the Haqqani Network operates with impunity inside of Pakistan in a town called Miranshah," he said, alleging that Pakistan is terrorism itself.
He said top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, are right that the ISI, the intelligence agency in Pakistan assist them directly and indirectly.

Even as the Pakistanis have done "some good things with us against al-Qaida," he said it believes that "we are leaving Afghanistan."

"They're betting the Taliban will come back. The Pakistan military lives like kings within Pakistan. A democracy in Afghanistan is a threat to Pakistani military control in their own mind," the top Senator said.

He underlined that it is "a time of choosing" for Pakistan.

Graham hoped Pakistan "choose wisely, because Secretary Panetta and people like myself cannot in good conscious go to military funerals and say 'I am sorry your son or daughter was killed in Afghanistan by assistance given to terrorists in Pakistan by the Pakistan government'. That has to come to an end".

The American Senator made it clear that Pakistan is engaging "in hostile acts against the United States and our ally Afghanistan" which "must cease".

He said if experts believe that "we need to elevate our response, they will have a lot of bipartisan support on Capitol Hill".

He underlined that the best solution for Pakistan is "to fight all forms of terrorism, embrace working with us" so that they can deal with terrorism along their border because it is "the biggest threat to stability".

"But Pakistan is terrorism itself. They have made a tremendous miscalculation. The foreign minister said America needs Pakistan. You're right, but not a Pakistan that will help kill American troops," Graham said.

Appearing on the same Sunday talk show, David Plouffe, Senior White House Advisor, reiterated that Pakistan needs to snap all its ties with terrorism.

He said the US has made it clear "both publicly and privately, that ties and safe havens between any part of the Pakistani government and military and the Haqqani Network cannot be abide".

When asked whether the US will cut off aid to Pakistan if they don't crackdown on the Haqqani network, Plouffe said: "Obviously, we have discussed that in the past."