WASHINGTON: Sticking to its do-more mantra, the US Department of State has once again asked Islamabad to do “a lot more to address terrorism issues.”
Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the State Department, told a briefing, “We expect that Pakistan should do a lot more to address terrorism issues. That’s something that we’ve been very clear about all along.”
She was responding to a question about whether the White House, State Department, and the US military were on the same page regarding relations with Pakistan.
Ms Nauert said she cannot comment on the comments made by members of the Department of Defense, but I would say, “administration-wide, that we were all on the same page with our relationship.”
This question was asked against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s “deceit and lies” tweet calling for tough actions against Pakistan while the CENTCOM Commander General Joseph, in a telephone talk with Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa, took a soft stance towards Pakistan.
When asked whether Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells visited Pakistan to deliver any kind of new message to the Pakistani authorities, she said, “I’m not aware of any new message that she’s delivering; probably the same messages we have for some time.”
To a query about Hafiz Saeed, the spokesperson said, “We regard him as a terrorist, a part of a foreign terrorist organization. He was the mastermind, we believe, of the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed many people, including Americans as well.”
“We have made our points and our concerns to the Pakistani Government very clear. We believe that he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Leave a Comment