US Army General and commander of the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, John Nicholson, has said that Pakistan has not increased cooperation on terrorist havens and that there is no specific change in ‘Pakistan’s behaviour’.
Nicholson said this in a media talk after a meeting of the NATO defence ministers in Brussels.
“You’ve heard the public statements from President Trump, from (Defence Secretary James) Mattis, from (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen Joseph Dunford) from (Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson, so we are engaging at the very highest levels with the Pakistanis to work together with them against these terrorists that are undermining the stability of the entire region,” Nicholson added, CNN reported.
“Pakistan has fought hard and suffered heavily against those terrorists focused on its government and now we are asking them to focus on the terrorists that are attacking Afghanistan and attacking the coalition,”
“The United States has been very clear about the direction we want to go and we hope to see some change in the coming weeks and months.
Mattis in a meeting on Thursday said that the US government was reaching out to the international community to help encourage Pakistan to take action against the Afghan Taliban by offering incentives and disincentives.
“Obviously, there are ways we can reward Pakistan and there are ways we can ensure they are held to account,” Mattis said.
“We are going to work with Pakistan and make this work,” he added.
Trump, in August, gave a speech announcing a change in the country’s policy on the region, which caused the relations between the two country to get strained.
The Pakistani military and civilian leadership have repeatedly said that there are no terrorist safe havens present in Pakistan.
“There are no organised bases of any terrorist organisations in the country anymore,” said the spokesperson for the Pakistan Army earlier in October.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif had also conveyed the same message to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his recent visit to Washington.