Pakistan must ‘demonstrate’ its desire to partner with the US, says Rex Tillerson

WASHINGTON DC: United States (US) is prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organisations seeking safe haven, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Wednesday, adding that Islamabad must demonstrate its desire to partner with the US.

In the article titled ‘I Am Proud of Our Diplomacy’, Tillerson gave an overview of US diplomacy since the Trump administration took over in January and how the administration was dealing with issues on the foreign policy front.

Describing defeating terrorism as one of the US president’s highest priorities, he said that the administration’s aggressive strategy to counter the Islamic State (IS) delegates greater authority to American military commanders on the battlefield, giving American forces more freedom and speed to do what they do best, in partnership with indigenous fighting forces.

“As a result, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has accelerated operations and has recaptured virtually all of previously held Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria,” he said.

The US secretary said that a commitment to stopping terrorism and extremism also motivated the administration’s decision to adopt a new South Asia strategy, which focuses on Afghanistan.

“That country [Afghanistan] cannot become a safe haven for terrorists, as it was in the days before the Sept 11 attacks,” he wrote.

Tillerson observed that Pakistan “must contribute by combating terrorist groups on its own soil. We are prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organisations seeking safe havens, but Pakistan must demonstrate its desire to partner with us”.

He described the Iran nuclear deal as “flawed” and said that it was no longer the focal point of US policy towards Tehran. “We are now confronting the totality of Iranian threats,” he said, while adding that part of this strategy entails rebuilding alliances with our partners in the Middle East.

He noted that in November, the US helped re-establish diplomatic ties between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. “We will continue to work with our allies and with Congress to explore options for addressing the nuclear deal’s many flaws, while building a like-minded effort to punish Iran for its violations of ballistic missile commitments and its destabilizing activities in the region.”

He described relations with Russia as poor saying that “we have no illusions about the regime we are dealing with”.

“The United States today has a poor relationship with a resurgent Russia that has invaded its neighbours Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and undermined the sovereignty of Western nations by meddling in our election and others,” he added.

However, he said that while the US is on guard against Russian aggression, “we recognise the need to work with Russia where mutual interests intersect”.