ISLAMABAD (Reuters) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that the United States had held a preliminary meeting with representatives of the Haqqani network, a group of militants Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan.

Clinton was in Islamabad to discuss joint efforts against militants, and was asked at a journalist roundtable about reports that U.S. officials had met with Haqqani representatives directly, even as Washington demanded that Pakistan take a tougher line on the group.

“We have reached out to the Taliban, we have reached out to the Haqqani network to test their willingness and their sincerity, and we are now working among us — Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States — to try to put together a process that would sequence us towards an actual negotiation,” Clinton said.