Will give Pak opportunity to act against terrorists: US

November 01, 2017 21:17

It is in the interest of Pakistan to change its "long-standing" relationship with terrorist organisations, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said, underlining that the Trump administration will give the country an opportunity to act on actionable intelligence.

"The conversation with the Pakistani government is for them to recognise that they will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of a successful peace process in Afghanistan, Tillerson told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on Monday.

Tillerson, who visited Afghanistan, Pakistan and India last week, was responding to questions on Pakistan's co- operation in the fight against terrorism in the aftermath of Trump's South Asia Policy.

"Pakistan lives with two very unstable borders, one with Afghanistan, one with India and our message to them is -- You have to begin to create greater stability inside your country and that means denying safe haven to any of these organisations that launch attacks from your territory," he said.

"So, we are going to enter into an effort to have greater sharing of certain intelligence information, he said, adding that Pakistanis have indicated that they will act if the US provide them information.

"We're going to have to test that, give them an opportunity to do so," Tillerson said.

"And so, what will change is that Pakistan will find it in their interest to begin to disassociate these long-standing relationships that have developed over time with certain terrorist organisations, the Haqqani network, the Taliban, inside of Pakistan, which may have served their purpose for stability once upon a time but they no longer serve that purpose, he said.

Tillerson said that it is up to Pakistan to think about its long-term stability and it future by changing that relationship with these organisations.

In August, President Trump had unveiled his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in which he had hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to "agents of chaos" that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists. -- PTI

Image: Pakistans Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif with United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Photograph: ANI

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