WASHINGTON, Feb 24: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, has said that the United States will not quit the region and will stay as long as it takes to eradicate terrorism from there.

“Americans never quit,” said Mr Holbrooke in an interview to PBS television. “We’ve surmounted other things. We’ll survive, whatever happens. I believe in our strength.”

A transcript made available to the media on Tuesday quoted Mr Holbrooke as saying that a US intelligence chief could also discuss with the ISI chief the question of an alleged relationship between his agency and the militants.

“The degree of that continuing relationship is one of the things that need to be discussed openly and candidly between two friends, America and Pakistan,” he said.

“The US gives a lot of assistance to Pakistan. And most people, me included, feel that Pakistan does not do enough to stop the people who from bases in Pakistan cross into Afghanistan and attack American and allied forces.”

Ambassador Holbrooke described President Zardari as “critically important” for the US and said that Washington would help him expand his authority.

“The question of his degree of authority over elements of the government is a legitimate one, which he himself has talked about openly. And this government, American government -- wants to support civilian democratic rule in Pakistan,” he added.Mr Holbrooke said US President Barack Obama was forced to send additional 17,000 to Afghanistan now, and not after the review, because the situation on ground in both Afghanistan and Pakistan was serious.

“Some people said you should have waited for the end of the strategic review to send the troops. That option was not available given the situation that President Obama inherited on day one of his presidency,” he said.

Ambassador Holbrooke said the new US strategy would involve all of Afghanistan’s neighbours including Pakistan, China, India, Russia, Iran and even Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which were farther afield.

“Afghanistan would last longer than Iraq, that it would be more difficult … this is something else. This is a really difficult problem, because it involves so many different countries,” he added.

“And Afghanistan and Pakistan are completely interrelated in this regard. There is no way that the international effort in Afghanistan can succeed unless Pakistan can get its western tribal areas under control.”

Mr Holbrooke said even if Afghanistan had the best government in the world; it could not succeed in bringing normalcy to the country if Pakistan’s tribal areas remained out of control.

Mumbai attacks

Although the US had kept India out of Mr Holbrooke’s agenda, the envoy noted that the situation concerned India as well.

“And Pakistan in turn relates directly to India,” said the ambassador, adding that those who attacked Mumbai in November wanted to provoke an India-Pakistan war.

“Why? Because that would remove Pakistani troops from the west completely and give them an even freer hand,” he said. “But luckily for the world, the Indians didn’t fall into the trap. They resisted.”

But he warned if this happened again, it could be more serious, particularly since the Indians were in an election period.

Mr Holbrooke said that while the US wanted to make sure that Afghanistan did not become a safe haven for terrorists who could deliver another 9/1; that’s not a final objective.

“It is an interim necessity as we work towards a basic strategic outcome, which covers an objective which involves Pakistan as well,” he added.

“Because if you deny Afghanistan to Al Qaeda, which American troops can do, but Al Qaeda remains in Pakistan, you remain at risk.”

The US officials indicated that drone attacks to destroy militants sanctuaries would continue.