WASHINGTON (PAN): The White House has said that the release of thousands of military logs by an online whistleblower would not change its relationship with Afghanistan or Pakistan.

However, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said the administration was concerned about the security implications of making public six years of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan.

I think what is known, about our relationship and our efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan are not markedly changed by what is in these documents, Gibbs said.

I think many of our challenges in both Afghanistan and Pakistan are the same today as they were last week.  I dont think anybody would tell you that they anticipate that progress isnt going to be slow and difficult in both of these two countries, he said.

Gibbs said that much of the information, detailing previously untold civilian deaths, the presence of clandestine hit squads and the role of Pakistans intelligence agency in supporting the Taliban, had already been discussed in the media.

Based on what we've seen, I don't think that what is being reported hasnt in many ways been publicly discussed either by you all or by representatives of the US government for quite some time, he told reporters at a regular press briefing.

We have certainly known about safe havens in Pakistan; we have been concerned about civilian casualties for quite some time and on both of those aspects we've taken steps to make improvements, Gibbs said.

He said that Pakistan did not have a blank cheque from the US and that aid and other funding was tied to Islamabads efforts to rein in extremists. It had to make progress on safe havens. 

Look, its in the interest of the Pakistanis because we certainly saw last year those extremists that enjoy the safe haven there turning their eye on innocent Pakistanis.  That's why youve seen Pakistan make progress in moving against extremists in Swat and in South Waziristan, he said.

But at the same time, even as they make progress, we understand that the status quo is not acceptable and that we have to continue moving this relationship in the right direction, Gibbs said.

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