Pakistan has demanded that the Trump administration address safe havens inside Afghanistan
United States urged Pakistan not to give sanctuary to terrorist organizations, Pakistan demanded that the Trump administration address safe havens inside Afghanistan and its income from the narcotics trade.
This happened at Security Council meeting on Friday over the issue of Afghanistan’s relations with its Central Asia neighbours and the link between peace and security.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said the US cannot work with Pakistan if it continues to give sanctuary to terrorist organizations and need to stop this and join efforts to resolve the Afghan conflict.
Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the UN Security Council that envisioning that these sanctuaries lay outside Afghanistan need a reality check.
She said Afghanistan and its partners, especially the US, need to address the challenges inside Afghanistan rather than shift the onus for ending the conflict onto others.
She further said Islamabad’s cooperation with Washington was not based on any aid consideration, but “on our national interests and principles and US should “not shift the blame for its own mistakes and failures onto others.
On John Sullivan charge that Pakistan provides safe havens inside its territory, Ambassador Lodhi said, “Those who imagine sanctuaries are outside Afghanistan need a reality check.
The exchange followed after a period of heightened tensions between the two nations after the US president said that Washington had foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years.
Pakistan’s Lodhi said that after 17 years of war it’s “more than evident” that neither the Afghan government nor the Taliban can win militarily.
Pakistan has fought and defeated terrorism within Pakistan, and its counter-terrorism campaign, deploying a 200,000 strong force, has turned the tide of terrorism.
Ambassador Lodhi’s comments have been widely carried by American media.