WASHINGTON: Incidents like the Taliban attack on Malala Yousufzai do galvanise popular opinion against the militants, says the US State Department.

“We’ve seen in the past in Pakistan that when the Taliban commit truly heinous and outrageous acts like this, it galvanises popular opinion against them,” the department’s spokesperson told a briefing in Washington.

And it happens “not only in the cities, but also in those towns and neighbourhoods where they plot and hide,” said the State Department official when asked if the attack on Malala would be a turning point in the war against militancy in Pakistan.

“So obviously, the degree to which the Pakistani people turn against them help their government to go after them. That would be, perhaps, a silver lining from this horrible tragedy,” she said.

At another briefing at the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was “very committed” to ending the war in the Pak-Afghan region.

“He has made it clear that he would refocus attention on what was a neglected war in Afghanistan, refocus our mission on Al Qaeda, and on decimating Al Qaeda’s leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr Carney said.

“And he has made clear that this is not a war without end,” he added.

Mr Carney explained that after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, it was time to bring American forces home, and to turn over responsibility for Afghan security to the Afghans.

He said that when Mr Obama came to power in 2008, America’s Afghan policy was “wildly adrift, unfocused and under-resourced”.

Mr Obama identified US priorities and executed on a mission that effectively went after ‘Al Qaeda central’ in the Af-Pak region, the White House official said.