Pak failing in anti-Taliban mission: Wolfowitz

He warned that Islamabad, once the main backer of the hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was testing Washington’s patience as it prepared to stiffen its demands on Pakistan’s troubled President, Pervez Musharraf.

‘‘The military is … cooperating with (the US in getting) Al Qaeda, but it’s not cooperating with (getting) the Taliban,’’ Wolfowitz said in the interview. ‘‘There is a widespread kind of belief in Pakistan that the Americans want Al Qaeda, but Pakistan continues to turn a blind eye to support the Taliban,’’ he said. ‘‘That clearly is now an issue if you want to do (Afghan) elections in June. You need to wrap up some of these Taliban people, which is quite separate from Al Qaeda.’’ Wolfowitz said Washington was likely to increase its demands on Islamabad in return for downplaying the Khan scandal.

‘‘The international community is prepared to accept his pardon of Dr A.Q. Khan for all he’s done, but it’s clearly a kind of IoU that, in return for that, there has to be a full accounting of everything that’s happened.’’

The US has so far been denied official permission to deploy its troops on Pakistani soil, but pressure is mounting amid a renewed campaign to track down Osama bin Laden and his supporters on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Despite his harsh words, Wolfowitz stressed Washington’s dependence on Pakistan, which became a major player in the the US-led war on terror in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.