WASHINGTON - Warning that top Al Qaeda leaders are plotting their next attack from Pakistan, Senator John Kerry, head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called for stepped up economic and security assistance to enable the beleaguered country defeat the militants. "As America 's second post-9/11 President takes office, a single country has become ground zero for the terrorist threat we face," he said, referring to Pakistan which faces a number of pressures. "The consensus among our intelligence agencies is that top Al Qaeda leaders are plotting their next attack from Pakistan, where the prevalence of religious extremists and nuclear weapons make that country the central, crucial front in our struggle to protect America from terrorism," Kerry wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Times Friday. "Pakistan is under enormous pressure from all sides, from tensions with India to a ferocious insurgency in the tribal belt to a financial crisis that threatens the solvency of the Pakistani state. And all of this is being held together by a fledgling civilian government not even a year old. For our sake and theirs, America must do more to help Pakistan." Kerry said. "Crucial to this effort will be finding a winning regional strategy that recognizes the centrality of Pakistan 's relationships with neighbours such as Afghanistan and India." OBAMA On Thursday, President Barack Obama said Islamist extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan posed a grave threat that his new administration would tackle as a single problem under a wider strategy. In announcing the appointment of Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to the region, Obama said the situation was "deteriorating" and that the war in Afghanistan could not be separated from the volatile border area with Pakistan, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements have regrouped. "This is the central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism. There, as in the Middle East, we must understand that we cannot deal with our problems in isolation," Obama told employees of the State Department. CHALLENGES In his article, Kerry, who recently returned from a South Asian visit, said in view of Pakistan's key importance to the U.S. interests in the region and the challenges confronting the country, he would strive for swift passage of a Congressional measure to authorize a three-fold expansion in economic assistance for the country. He noted that the aftermath of the November terror attacks in Mumbai reminded that getting Pakistan "focus its military on extremist sanctuaries that endanger American troops also depends on lowering tensions with India. "We must work assiduously to help Pakistan and India to find a path back to the bilateral peace talks which were disrupted by the Mumbai attacks." The former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, who met with the top Pakistani political and military leaders during his trip to Islamabad, praised their anti-terror commitment and said Washington must lead an international effort to help Pakistan come out of its economic difficulties. Kerry said a military strategy alone cannot prevail on either side of the Afghan border. "An effective counter-insurgency must address longer-term political, economic, and development challenges, especially in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Northwest Frontier Province on the Afghan border. "This is why I will seek swift passage of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act (commonly known as Biden-Lugar legislation), which would triple non-military assistance to Pakistan through projects that will directly support the Pakistani people, strengthen democratic institutions, promote economic freedoms, and encourage investment in the agriculture, education and infrastructure sectors. "The United States also needs to provide it the tools to fight the extremists, he wrote while citing as examples electronic detection and communications equipment and helicopters that can move swiftly in the inhospitable terrain of the tribal belt". The Massachusetts senator said the passage of the partnership act will be a good start, but not enough to stave off the risk of economic unrest and pleaded more future support. "Future international aid packages should include verifiable guarantees that the money will be spent on economic development that helps the Pakistani people. And as we do, we should leverage our assistance to restore belief in the legitimacy of our mission." "For all its challenges, Pakistan remains a vital partner in our efforts against al-Qaeda's global insurgency. My recent visits have convinced me that success in Afghanistan demands that we help build a stable and moderate Pakistan. That means our relationship with Pakistan cannot begin and end with helping its military - we must also speak directly to its people and its civilian government. Pakistan's prosperity and its security - as well as our own - depend on it."