Clinton, Pakistani students in lively exchange

[unhappycamper]

Clinton, Pakistani students in lively exchange
Oct 29, 6:47 AM EDT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that Pakistan had little choice but to take a more aggressive approach, starting last summer, to combatting Taliban and other extremist forces that threaten to destabilize the country.

In a lively give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore, Clinton said inaction by the government would have amounted to ceding ground to terrorists.

"If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice," she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice.

Clinton met with the students on the second day of a three-day visit to Pakistan, her first as secretary of state. Shortly after she arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday, a car bomb exploded in a market crowded with women and children in Peshawar, killing 105. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2007.

Clinton's visit is designed to get maximum public exposure to improve America's image in a country where many people dislike and distrust the United States.


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