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Pakistan gov’t crisis internal issue: US official

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government regards Pakistan’s ruling coalition crisis as a strictly internal matter, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

Pakistan’s political upheaval comes at a time when the Obama administration has increased pressure on Islamabad to go after Islamist militant groups to help the United States turn around the faltering war effort in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari earlier on Monday expressed full confidence in the country’s beleaguered prime minister, who is scrambling to prevent his government from falling after a key coalition partner quit.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s U.S.-backed government lost its majority in parliament on Sunday when the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM, bolted to the opposition due to government fuel price policies it said were “unbearable” for Pakistanis.
“We see this as an internal Pakistani political issue, and we do not think it would be appropriate for the U.S. to comment,” the U.S. official said when asked how concerned Washington was about the coalition crisis and whether it might affect the Obama administration’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy.