WASHINGTON (Reuters/AFP) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it was encouraged by Pakistani cooperation in the investigation into a failed plot to bomb New Yorks Times Square and that Washington was letting Islamabad set the pace of its operations against militants. The US and Pakistan are exchanging information and weve received a pledge of cooperation from the Pakistanis regarding this issue the investigation that is, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Were encouraged by this response. Washington had long pressed Pakistan to publicly take on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants more aggressively but has expressed satisfaction with recent offensives near the countrys border with Afghanistan, where US forces have been locked in an 8-year-old war. US investigators have uncovered possible links between the suspected Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, and the Pakistani Taliban, a group that has been heavily targeted by CIA drone strikes in Pakistans tribal areas. There are safe havens that have yet to be fully targeted, as aggressively targeted ... but the pace and timing and the schedule to undertake those operations is of the Pakistanis choosing, Morrell said at a Pentagon news conference. The secretary (of defense) is very comfortable with the degree of seriousness with which they are approaching this problem, Morrell said. Theres a recognition on everybodys part that all the terrorist havens in Pakistan must be dealt with. But we also have to deal with the reality of capacity. Morrell said Pakistan was reluctant to overstretch their forces, to go places that they havent been necessarily and, in the process, sacrifice gains that theyve hard won elsewhere. A Pentagon report issued last week estimated that Pakistan has shifted 100,000 of its troops from its Indian frontier to spearhead an unprecedented crackdown on militants along the Afghan border. US officials said about 140,000 Pakistani troops were taking part in offensives against militants in the semi-autonomous tribal regions, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the Northwest Frontier Province, near Afghanistan. The Pentagon said the recent military deployments on the western front were the biggest in the countrys history in that area. Meanwhile, US Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday the man accused of planting a car bomb in crowded Times Square last week was continuing to cooperate with US authorities three days after his arrest. Faisal Shahzad has undergone extensive questioning ever since he was arrested aboard a plane as it prepared to take off for Dubai. The 30-year-old son of a retired Pakistani Air Force officer has not asked for a lawyer during questioning, officials said. He has not yet appeared in court on the five terror charges he faces after waiving his right to a speedy arraignment. Mr Shahzad is, in fact, continuing to cooperate with us, Holder told a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing, adding that Shahzad has provided useful information. Questioning by federal agents was ongoing and we will continue to pursue a number of leads as we gather intelligence relating to this attempted attack, Holder said.