The US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that the US needs to put the heaviest possible pressure on Pakistan to join in the fight against Taliban and other extremists threatening its very existence.

"We need to put the most heavy possible pressure on our friends in Pakistan to join us in the fight against the Taliban and its allies," he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday noting that Pakistan's survival as a moderate, democratic state is critical to US national security.