The United States wants to see practical steps taken by Pakistan over the next few weeks and months in its war against terrorism, an American diplomat said on Friday. The remark comes after US State Secretary Rex Tillerson’s visit to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India last week.
“The secretary stressed the importance of Pakistan moving quickly to demonstrate good faith and efforts to use its influence to create the conditions that will get the Taliban to the negotiating table,” Reuters quoted Alice G Wells as saying. Wells had accompanied Tillerson on his visit to New Delhi and Islamabad.
Wells, who is the acting assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said it was up to Pakistan to decide whether or not to work with the US. “This is about Pakistan’s sovereign choice....We’ve described our strategy, we’ve described a very important role for Pakistan, who we see as a very important country in the region, but it is up to them whether or not they want to work with us on this strategy. And if they don’t, as the Secretary said, we’ll adjust accordingly,” she said, according to PTI.
The diplomat further said Islamabad’s relations with terrorist organisations was a threat to its own ability.
During his visit to Kabul on October 23, Tillerson had urged Pakistan to act against terrorist organisations on its soil. “Pakistan needs to, I think, take a clear-eyed view of the situation that they are confronted with in terms of the number of terrorist organisations that find safe haven inside of Pakistan,” he had said.
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