WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Pakistan could lose control of its territory if it does not sever ties with the Haqqani network and other militant outfits.
Participating in a think-tank discussion earlier this week, Tillerson said the militants who were focusing on Kabul might one day decide that Islamabad was a better target.
The warning followed a Pentagon statement, which said the new US strategy for Afghanistan had “fundamentally changed the battlefield in favour of Afghan national security forces” and the Taliban militants were now on the retreat. And this change happened because the new strategy made it clear that US forces would stay in Afghanistan for as long as it took to stabilise the country and also because it gave American troops more power to confront the enemy, the Pentagon added.
The two statements follow the Trump administration’s repeated calls to Pakistan to do more to destroy the alleged safe havens that Afghan militants still retain in parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a charge Islamabad strongly denies.
“Pakistan has allowed so many terrorist organisations to find safe haven within its territories, and these organisations are growing in size and influence, that at some point I have said to the leadership of Pakistan, you may be the target, and they turn their attention from Kabul and decide they like Islamabad as a target better,” Tillerson said.
In his remarks on “Meeting the foreign policy challenges of 2017 and beyond” organised by the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum, Tillerson said that Pakistan’s relationship with the Haqqani network needed to be altered. “I understand that this is a relationship that has emerged probably for, in their view, good reasons a decade ago, but now that relationship has to be altered because if they’re not careful, Pakistan is going to lose control of their own country,” he said.
The top US diplomat assured Pakistan that Washington wanted to work with Islamabad to “stamp out terrorism within their boundaries”, but Pakistan had to “begin the process” by changing its relationship with the Haqqani network and with others.
The Russian used to say the same thing. And the British before them. Son, if your not careful Pakistan will be the catalyst for the downfall of USA as a superpower. You will be bled slowly, so you are advised to pack your bags and fly back home away from our lands.
Son,you.too are no angel. Because USA started to alienate you,you have started cosying up to Russia and China
[…] Source: Google News […]
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