Pakistan on Tuesday rejected the United States’ National Security Strategy and its alleged “unfounded accusations” against Islamabad’s efforts to fight terrorism, local daily The Express Tribune reported.
The Donald Trump administration had on Monday released its first National Security Strategy document. Trump, while releasing the 68-page statutorily mandated document, asked Pakistan to take “decisive action” against terrorist groups operating from its soil.
In response, the Pakistan Foreign Office released a statement saying it rejects “such unfounded accusations that belie facts on ground and trivialise Pakistan’s efforts for fighting terrorism, and our unmatched sacrifices to promote peace and stability in the region.”
It added that Pakistan had long been at the forefront of the fight against regional and global terrorism. “It is because of Pakistan’s cooperation with the international community, acknowledged and appreciated by the US leadership, that the al-Qaeda core was decimated from the region,” it said.
Pakistan added that it continued to suffer at the hands of state-sponsored terrorism, which is funded and abetted by its neighbours through proxies. “Destabilising policies and actions by some countries to maintain their hegemony in pursuit of absolute power are responsible for instability in several parts of the world, including ours,” it said.
Islamabad questions promotion of India
The document called India a leading global power and said that the United States will “deepen its strategic partnership with India and support its leadership role in Indian Ocean security and throughout the broader region”.
Questioning this logic, Islamabad said, “It does not fall upon one country to bestow such status on any state.” It added: “South Asia’s strategic stability is being undermined by India’s unchecked brutalisation of the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir and incessant ceasefire violations targeting innocent civilians.”
Efforts undermined, says Pakistan
The Foreign Office claimed that a malicious campaign was underway to undo Pakistan’s achievements in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Yet, it said, “Pakistan’s security forces had undertaken indiscriminate and effective counter-terrorism operations against terrorism and extremism”.
Acknowledging that the fight was not yet over, it said, “Pakistan remains committed to continuing its fight against the sympathisers, financiers and abettors of terrorism to ensure that Pakistan’s soil is not used for committing violence anywhere”.
The document said that the United States will press Pakistan to do more to counter terrorism and also encourage Pakistan to continue demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets.
The United States “continues to face threats from transnational terrorists and militants operating from within Pakistan”, the document said, adding that their other big concern was the “prospect for an Indo-Pakistani military conflict that could lead to a nuclear exchange”.
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