ISLAMABAD: The Trump administration has pointed finger at ‘ongoing deficiencies’ Pakistan has in implementing its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance regime.
According to a statement issued by the US embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant to the President and US National Security Council’s Senior Director for South and Central Asia Lisa Curtis urged Islamabad to address the ‘continuing presence of the Haqqani network and other terrorist groups within its territory’.
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According to the communiqué, the Trump aide during her two-day trip to Pakistan also reiterated the ‘international community’s long-standing concern’ about Pakistan’s shortcomings in implementing its anti-terror strategy.
“In her meetings with Pakistani officials, Curtis said that the United States seeks to move toward a new relationship with Pakistan, based on a shared commitment to defeat all terrorist groups that threaten regional stability and security as well as on a shared vision of a peaceful future for Afghanistan,” read a separate statement issued by the Foreign Office.
Acknowledging Pakistan’s considerable sacrifices fighting terrorism, Curtis emphasised that the US strategy on South Asia represented an opportunity to work together to bring about a stable and peaceful Afghanistan. Restoration of peace in Afghanistan would enable the dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland, the defeat of Islamic State in South Asia and the elimination of terrorist groups that threaten both Pakistan and the United States, she added.
During her stay in Pakistan, the US diplomat held meetings with Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar. In Washington, a top general said on Tuesday that the US military was seeing some ‘positive indicators’ from Pakistan showing it was becoming more responsive to US concerns about militant safe havens in the country. “We are now beginning to see very positive indicators … that they are moving in the right direction,” said General Joseph Votel, head of the US military’s Central Command, citing unspecified Pakistani actions on the ground. “It does not yet equal the decisive action that we would like to see them take in terms of a strategic shift, but they are positive indicators,” Votel told a hearing of the US House of Representatives.
Published in Daily Times, February 28th 2018.
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