WASHINGTON: In an annual report titled ‘Country Report on Terrorism’ for 2016, the United States has acknowledged that terrorism has reduced in Pakistan for the 2nd straight year in 2016 by taking constructive measures to safeguard its nuclear assets and weapons of mass destruction.
However, Pakistan is still on the list of countries which provide a safe haven to terrorist, in the report published by the US State Department.
The report also mentions that Pakistani military and security forces undertook operations against groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that conducted attacks within Pakistan.
“While terrorist-related violence in Pakistan declined for the second straight year in 2016, the country continued to suffer significant terrorist attacks, particularly against vulnerable civilian and government targets,” the report said.
Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Columbia, Somalia, Philippines, Libya and Egypt are among the countries that are also on the list of countries that continue to provide safe haven to terrorists.
The report also appreciated the government of Pakistan for administering the Exit Control List which forbids terrorists from travelling abroad.
“To combat weapons of mass destruction (WMD) trafficking, Pakistan harmonised its national control list with items controlled by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and continued to harmonise its control lists with other multilateral regimes, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Australia Group,” the report said.
Pakistan’s role in improving legal and regulatory cooperation, industry outreach, and non-proliferation awareness for the Strategic Export Control Division and Pakistani Customs was also acknowledged.
However, the report criticised Islamabad for not doing enough against the Afghan Taliban.
“Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or Haqqani, or substantially limit their ability to threaten US interests in Afghanistan, although Pakistan supported efforts to bring both groups into an Afghan-led peace process,” the State Department said.
