The United States has claimed that Pakistan is willing to "sacrifice blood" and treasure to protect themselves and their neighbours against extremists.

"Pakistan is responsible for what happens within its borders. And the Pakistanis, I think, have shown time and again that they are aggressive, they are determined and they are willing to make sacrifices of blood and treasure to protect their citizens and to protect their neighbours," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington.

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"It is ready to act as a responsible member of the international community in removing a threat that targets the people of Pakistan, targets the people of the region and the people of the United States," he said on Thursday.

Commenting on the recent crackdown on madrassas and extremists in Pakistan and the level of cooperation between the US and Pakistan on it, Ereli said: "There is a lot of cooperation, but there's also a lot that Pakistan is doing on its own and let me explain it this way - ever since September 11, Pakistan has made it very clear where it stands in the fight against terror.
    
"Let me be specific. Because it didn't take (Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf long to declare what was the right side of this issue, and that was the side of standing with all of us in fighting the extremists who believe that killing innocent people is a legitimate form of carrying on some ideological struggle," Ereli said.

"So, in that sense we're partners. And we've worked closely in a number of ways to track down and apprehend terrorists and to prevent them from doing their dirty work in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere," he added.