MAZAR-I-SHARIF: Washington will “consider all its options” if it found out that Mullah Omar, the reclusive chief of the Afghan Taliban, was living in Pakistan, Senator Kerry said in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday.

“The United States government will always reserve all of its options to be able to protect our people. Other plots have been conducted and organised and planned out of Pakistan. It is really critical that we talk with the Pakistanis as friends,” Mr Kerry said in reply to a question whether the United States would conduct a raid inside Pakistan to kill Mullah Omar if it knew his whereabouts.

US officials have long maintained Mullah Omar went to Pakistan after the Taliban government was overthrown in late 2001 by US-backed Afghan forces and is still in hiding there.

Islamabad has denied reports he is in Pakistan.

Asked about the shape of relations with Pakistan in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, John Kerry said the United States wanted Pakistan to be a “real” ally in combating militants inside its borders, but serious questions remained in relations between the countries after Osama’s killing.

Mr Kerry, who was in Afghanistan before a trip to Pakistan to discuss strained bilateral ties, said Islamabad needed to improve efforts in fighting extremism, but the death of Osama provided a critical chance to move forward.

“We obviously want a Pakistan that is prepared to respect the interests of Afghanistan, and to be a real ally in our efforts to combat terrorism,”.

“We believe there are things that can be done better. And there are serious questions that need to be answered in that relationship. But we’re not trying to find a way to break the relationship apart, we’re trying to find a way to build it.”

Lawmakers in the United States have been questioning whether Pakistan is serious about fighting militants in the region after Osama bin Laden was found living in Pakistan. Some have even called for a suspension in aid to Islamabad.

Kerry, a Democrat close to the Obama administration and who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week it was “extraordinarily hard to believe” Osama could have survived in Pakistan for so long without any knowledge.

US officials in private say the US repeatedly told Pakistan that Washington would send American forces into that country if it had evidence Osama bin Laden was hiding there.

John Kerry said Pakistan itself was a victim of extremism and faced its own tough decisions, but that the killing of Osama provided a new opportunity.

“Sometimes those choices can be very difficult for people to make because of the pressures that they’re under and the violence that occurs,” he said. “We respect and understand that, but this is the time, this is a critical time to find a better way forward and we hope that we’re going to be able to do that.”—Reuters