US has ‘honest concerns’ about terrorist safe havens in Pakistan

The Pentagon has said that the US has been very honest about its concerns with Pakistan for a long time about the terrorist safe havens along with the border areas of Afghanistan.the apprehensions it has had for a long time now are still valid. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on Thursday at a news conference thatAfghanistan and the US have criticised Pakistan in the past for allowing Taliban fighters to cross into Pakistan where they are provided safe havens and also receive medical treatment.

Pakistan must remember to uphold its equities and responsibilities with respect to terrorism in “that part of the world”, Kirby said and  added that the United States is well within its rights to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan as a means to curb the terror threat, even though its ground troops left the country over a month ago ending a 20-year war.  He said that US leaders are keeping on their “candid conversations” with their Pakistani counterparts to make sure that as Afghanistan's neighbour, Pakistan continues to uphold its own “equities and responsibilities”. "I think it's important to continue to remind that the Pakistani people, likewise, have been rendered victim by terrorist threats that emanate from those groups and along that same border," he said.

Pakistan has for many years been under fire from political quarters across the globe for providing a safe haven to terrorist outfits, including al Qaeda, among others. Most recently though, the erstwhile Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan, backed by the United States, raised its concerns about Islamabad providing the Taliban terrorists with a safe haven and even medical help when needed.