Be aggressive against terror safe havens: US to Pak

The US has pushed top Pakistani leadership to adopt “an aggressive approach” against terrorist safe havens inside the country and warned that continuation of the current policy would adversely affect its ties with India and Afghanistan, a top Obama administration official has said.

US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in her meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and her counterpart Sartaj Aziz this week made it clear that they need to do more to confront the terrorist groups.

“Rice noted that terrorist and other militant acts continue to emanate from Pakistani soil and that has developed into a key source of regional <g data-gr-id="19">friction ?</g> between Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as Pakistan and India”.  Terrorism emanating from the Pakistani soil would be the key issue of discussion when Prime Minister Sharif travels to Washington to meet President Barack Obama at the White House on October 22, the official said.

“So addressing this challenge of safe havens that some militant groups have on Pakistani soil will be an imperative for Pakistan’s ties relations with its neighbours and with the US. Some of these actors have made it a point of targeting US and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” the official noted. 

“So it is a primary concern to us and especially with the uptick of the violence in Kabul, this is certainly a priority for us to see that Pakistan takes a very aggressive approach in dealing with the Haqqani network and other actors,” said the official.