WASHINGTON Feb 07 (TNS): The United States could consider ending a suspension of security assistance to Pakistan if Islamabad takes “decisive and sustained” actions against militant groups in the country, the State Department’s No. 2 official said on Tuesday.
“We may consider lifting the suspension when we see decisive and sustained actions to address our concerns, including targeting all terrorist groups operating within its territory, without distinction,” Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sullivan, however, told the committee the Trump administration has so far seen no evidence that Pakistan has met its demands for a crackdown on extremist groups operating on Pakistani territory.
The US government last month said it was suspending at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistan until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups.
Pakistan has long rejected accusations that it fails to tackle militants battling the government in neighboring Afghanistan and US-led foreign forces there, from sanctuaries on its side of the border.
After Washington announced the aid suspension, Pakistan criticized what it called “shifting goalposts” and said the move was counter-productive.
Washington, however, still hopes to “bring the Taliban to the negotiating table” in Afghanistan, Sullivan noted, even though US President Donald Trump had ruled out such talks any time soon.
Returning from a trip to Kabul, the State Department official told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that all Afghan leaders “reiterated their support for our strategy”.
Sullivan pledged to create “the conditions that will bring the Taliban to the negotiation table” and expressed hope that Islamabad will help in the process.
“We hope the Pakistanis will also help to convince the Taliban to enter a peace process,” he said.
Trump had left the door open to negotiations when he presented his Afghanistan strategy in August. However, following January’s Kabul attack that left more than 100 people dead, he rejected the notion of peace talks with the militant group.
“We don’t want to talk with the Taliban,” Trump said. “They are killing people left and right, innocent people. There may be a time but it’s going to be a long time.”
Pressed by Democratic senators on this apparent contradiction, Sullivan appeared to draw a distinction between moderate and extreme factions of the group.
“What President Trump was expressing was a reaction to the horrible terrorist activities last month in Kabul,” he said. “Significant elements of the Taliban are not prepared to negotiate and it may take a long time before they are willing to negotiate.”
But some factions do have a place at the table, Sullivan said, adding that Afghan leaders agree.
