US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCSC) General Martin Dempsey has there was currently no indication that the attacks had been planned inPakistan.
CJCSC made the revelation while addressing a press conference at the Pentagon with the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Monday.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Panetta said Intelligence reports had suggested before a coordinated assault on the Afghan capital began on Sunday that the Haqqani network of militants had been planning such high-profile attacks.
The former CIA head said that the attacks reflect Taliban are resilient, and this was the beginning of their spring offensive. However, he added that they believed that with the Afghan Army, the US would be able to combat these attacks.
Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had also called Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss the weekend’s events and of taking Pakistan-US ties further.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has praised the bravery and sacrifice of Afghan security forces in Sunday’s terror attacks. In his first remarks on Sunday’s incidents, he has strongly condemned the coordinated terrorist attacks in Kabul, Nangarhar, Logar and Paktia provinces, which killed four civilians and 11 members of the security forces and injured 32 civilians and nearly 42 Afghan security forces. He also commended the valour and the devotion demonstrated by the Afghan security forces in quickly reacting and eliminating the terrorists.
In a press statement issued in Kabul on Monday, President Karzai said that Afghan security forces have proved their capability to protect the country.
Describing the infiltration by the suicide terrorists in Kabul and other provinces as an intelligence failure of the government and NATO, he called for full investigation into the incident. President Karzai also offered his heart-felt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and prayed for a quick recovery of the wounded. Afghan Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi accused that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network is suspected to have carried out the brazen suicide attacks on western embassies and Parliament in Kabul yesterday. He said that one of the militants arrested told the authorities that al-Qaeda linked Haqqani network was behind the assaults. The involvement of the Haqqani network was corroborated by another militant caught in Nangarhar Province.
The officials also said that the attacks bore the hallmarks of the Haqqani network, which has focus on attacks against high-profile Afghan government and foreign targets. They said the Haqqani network, have now become the focus of American military effort.
Recalling that she pressed Pakistan to “squeeze” the Haqqani network when she visited Islamabad last October, Clinton told reporters in Brasilia that she will “continue to make that point, press it hard.”
She added that “there are already indications of Haqqani involvement” in the weekend attacks on Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan, adding that the “Haqqani network is a very determined foe.”
Clinton recalled that she had told Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in a telephone call from Brazil on Monday that she “expressed my strong conviction that there has to be concerted effort” in fighting extremism.
She said such effort must involves the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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