Clinton did not vindicate Pakistan?s ISI: U.S.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had not absolved Pakistani spy service Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over terror links, an American government official said on Saturday.

I don’t think she (Clinton) gave them (ISI) a free chit,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at news conference, when questioned over the Secretary?s remarks a day earlier in Islamabad.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday seemed to exonerate Pakistani authorities over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden?s last hideaway while she stressed that America expected the country to take ?decisive? action against militants on its soil.

However, on Saturday Toner said the Clinton?s statements had come as she made efforts to call on Pakistani leaders towards ?greater action and consolidated effort? and should not bee seen as a guarantee for possible links the ISI might have with terror networks.

The clarifications came even as testifying in a Chicago court, 2008 Mumbai attack co-conspirator David Headley remained firm on his statement that personnel from Pakistani spy service and the navy had provided expertise on the strike that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

Amid such trying times for ties between the U.S. an Pakistan, which grew more strained post bin Laden?s killing within Pakistan by American commandos, Clinton paid a surprise visit to the south Asian ?strategic partner? to smooth some ruffled feathers while simultaneously pressing the nation to do more against terror.

?We will do our part and we look to the government of Pakistan to take decisive steps in the days ahead,” she had said at a news conference in Islamabad on Friday.

The U.S. Secretary of State said that her trip to Pakistan was “especially important” since ties between the two nations “have reached a turning point?.

Saying that even though the U.S. acknowledged that no nation had paid a higher price to terrorism than Pakistan, she added, “We both recognise there is still much more work required and it’s urgent.”

?Osama bin Laden is dead but al-Qaeda and his syndicate of terror remain a serious threat to us both,? she said.

Over a hundred people have died in militant strikes in Pakistan since bin Laden was killed in the country?s Abbottabad on May 2 by U.S. Navy Seals, ending an almost decade long manhunt for the world’s most-sought-after terrorist.

Responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, that killed about 3,000 people, Osama was hunted worldwide only to be found nearly ten years later in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

On Friday, Clinton said that Pakistan needed to understand that anti-Americanism and conspiracy theories will not solve its problems.

Exonerating Pakistani top leadership, she said that the U.S. had “absolutely no evidence” that anyone at the highest level of government” had knowledge of bin Laden?s last hideout, barely 60 km from capital Islamabad.

The terror chief?s safe house, a high-walled three-storey million-dollar-compound in the middle of a garrison town that stood out in its neighbourhood, just yards away from a military training facility, had raised questions about Pakistan?s involvement in harbouring bin Laden.

After their covert unilateral strike, U.S. officials, including the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said it was impossible that no level of Pakistani administration was not aware of bin Laden?s location, where he was supposedly living for five years.

However, on Friday Clinton tried to pacify tensions as she patted Pakistan for swiftly ordering a probe and for being ?very forthcoming in saying somebody somewhere? within its borders was providing support to bin Laden.