The United States embassy has contradicted news reports attributed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threatening Pakistan of unilateral action and reiterated her commitment that US stands together with Pakistan and Afghanistan to avoid "dire consequences."

The embassy described several articles in Pakistani newspapers as 'false' saying US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was misquoted in her Bloomberg interview in Tajikistan, in which she reportedly "threatened" Pakistan and implied that the United States intends to take unilateral military action against Pakistan.

"This is false, the secretary has consistently made clear in her public statements, including the Bloomberg interview that the United States stands together with Pakistan and Afghanistan to avoid "dire consequences" that could result in the region if the three countries do not work together to "squeeze and shutdown" the terrorist threat on both sides of the border," said US Embassy spokesperson Mark Stroh.

"I have made it clear that there will be dire consequences for Pakistan as well as Afghanistan if this threat from the terrorist networks is not contained, at the very least, because there's no way that any government in Islamabad can control these groups," the spokesperson quoted Secretary's October 22 interview with Bloomberg News.

"This is an opportunity, while we are still with 48 nations across the border in Afghanistan, where we have a lot of assets that we can put at their disposal, for us to work to really limit the threat posed by these groups...

I think, following our conversations and the clarity that I believe was created, there's a much greater understanding and appreciation of what we can do together to deal with these mutual threats," the spokesperson further quoted Secretary Clinton.

Bloomberg, however, reported on October 24 that Secretary Clinton said Pakistan will suffer "dire consequences" if it fails to "contain" terrorists operating from its soil, and it needs the US and Afghanistan to help get the job done.

SOURCE: BUSINESS RECORDER