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- March 19, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
WASHINGTON: The Taliban has been urged by the US to prevent terrorist strikes against Pakistan from being initiated from Afghan territory. When questioned about Pakistan’s “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations” inside Afghanistan’s border regions, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel responded that the US “deeply” regretted the deaths and “injustices” caused by an attack in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The terrorist strike at a security post in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan on Saturday claimed the lives of seven Pakistani soldiers.
“We want Pakistan to use caution and make sure civilians are not hurt in their counterterrorism operations, and we want the Taliban to make sure that terrorist attacks are not launched from Afghan soil,” Patel stated during his daily news briefing on Monday. And we ask that any disagreements be resolved by both parties. “We are steadfast in our resolve to guarantee that terrorists seeking to cause harm to the United States, our partners, and allies never again find sanctuary in Afghanistan,” he continued. Speaking to a journalist who misunderstood his remarks as implying that the US did not agree with Pakistan’s position on this matter, Patel stated: “We want to make sure that when some of these operations are being conducted, every possible step is taken to ensure that it is the perpetrators that are being held to account and not civilians who are being impacted.”
He emphasized Washington’s close ally status with Pakistan by stating that Washington and Pakistani authorities had “regular communication” to “discuss Afghanistan in detail including through our counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations.” “Amb Blome did meet with PM Sharif on March 15 to discuss a broad range of bilateral issues, partnering with the government of Pakistan on regional security, and US support for continued economic reforms with and through the IMF,” he said in response to a question regarding his recent meetings with Pakistani leaders.
He noted that other topics related to private sector-led economic growth were also covered in this meeting, including trade and investment, education, and climate change. He said, “And we are still in communication with our Pakistani partners; they talk about a variety of other issues as well.”