WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (TNS): US defence Secretary reiterates that US would revoke non-NATO ally status to Pakistan if it did not abandon support to militant groups.
Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if Pakistan does not cooperate in war against terror then US would revoke non-NATO ally status.
The top US military officer said that he believed that Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, had ties to militant groups.
US officials have long been frustrated by what they term Pakistan’s unwillingness to act against militant groups including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.
“It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups,” Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
