Washington: America’s security aid to Pakistan “will be conditioned” on the steps Islamabad takes against terrorist groups such as the Taliban and the Haqqani network, a senior Trump administration official has said.
“There have been long standing relationships between the Pakistani intelligence officials and these terrorist groups. So, we don’t expect things to change overnight. We expect incremental changes over time,” the official told PTI.
His comments came days after US President Donald Trump 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.
“We will be able to see when these changes start to happen. They (might) not become immediately apparent to the public, but we’re confident that when Pakistan takes the steps we’re asking it to do, we'll know it and we’ll be able to assess. And so, our security aid will be conditioned on the steps that we expect them to take against, in particular, the Taliban-Haqqani Network,” the official said on condition of
anonymity.
The US, the official said, is monitoring the situation carefully in Pakistan and expects some progress.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to give exact timelines that we’re dealing in. But, certainly there is an
expectation that we'll start to see some changes in the very near future,” the official said when asked if the Trump administration has set a time line for progress in action being taken by Pakistan against the terrorist groups.
The official was responding to a series of question on the statements coming out of Pakistan, which are generally in strong opposition to the Trumps South Asia strategy.
“How do you see Pakistan's reaction? Do you think that they would be, given these kind of reactions that's coming up in public domain, think they will be cooperating this time with you on counter-terrorism issues?" the official was asked.
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