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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells in her official visit to Islamabad has emphasized on the country to bolster intelligence cooperation and start result-oriented crackdown against the notorious Haqqani network that has been frequently using its soil for terrorist and destructive activities against Afghanistan.
The US President Trump administration repeatedly asked Pakistan to clear its disputed and undisputed territory by shunning terror havens and their training and fundraising centers. However, Pakistan stubbornly stuck to its project of international terrorism.
The US Department of State’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Alice Wells on her two days official visit arrived in Islamabad on Monday, she held meetings with Pakistani officials. It was the first visit of senior US official since the President Trump’s New Year Tweet on Pakistan that acknowledges the very obvious truth by exposing Pakistan of giving Washington nothing but “lies and deceit.”
Alice Wells emphasized on Pakistani authorities to address the US concerns in true letters and spirit and immediately clear its soil of the Haqqani terrorist network, Afghan Taliban and other terrorist groups.
“Ambassador Wells urged the government of Pakistan to address the continuing presence of the Haqqani terrorist network and other terrorist groups within its territory,” a statement issued by the US embassy in Islamabad said.
In a meeting with her interlocutors in Pakistan, she signaled a new era of bilateral relationship with Pakistan, based on mutual interest. However, Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation with the US was termed a key for improving relations, especially in counterterrorism cooperation.
Moreover, Alice Wells in her briefing to a small group of journalists held at the US embassy on Tuesday, expressed zero tolerance for Pakistan’s ongoing policy of duplicity, based on keeping distinction between good and bad terrorists.
“There can be no good or bad terrorists,” Wells said.
The diplomat added Washington would not support the use of Afghan soil as a base for hostile acts against Pakistan. About the Taliban and the Haqqani network, she said the US opposed the use of terrorist proxies by any country. It’s a sacred fact that Afghanistan has no room for any terrorist groups and it has been rendered highest number of sacrifices in war on terror while Pakistan, despite pressure by the regional and international community still remains a terror haven and perpetrator of cross-point terrorism, resulting in tens of thousands of Afghan casualties and killing of 3,500 US soldiers.
She warned Pakistan in clear words to launch a meaningful crackdown against the terrorist groups trying to destabilize Afghanistan, just like the “extraordinary” fight against the Pakistan Taliban and Jamaatul Arhar.
The visiting dignitary urged Pakistan to prove its sincerity to the political settlement in Afghanistan, rather than harboring and sheltering terrorism.
