ATLANTA (The Thursday Times) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Washington does not want Pakistan to be targeted by terrorism, backing Islamabad’s complaint that the Taliban have not done enough to stop attacks launched from Afghanistan.
“We don’t want Pakistan to be targeted for terrorism,” Rubio told reporters at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta. “Pakistan is concerned about terrorist attacks being sponsored from the territory of Afghanistan, and they feel the Taliban has not done enough to constrain those attacks. We’re against terrorism, no matter where it emanates from and who it targets.”
His remarks come days after Pakistan told the UN Human Rights Council that the Taliban were allowing terrorists to operate from Afghan soil, saying 4,700 Pakistanis had been killed in terrorist attacks in three years. The Pakistan Army has since destroyed more Afghan Taliban posts near South Waziristan and Parachinar in retaliation for cross-border firing.
Rubio said earlier this month that the United States had to maintain its relationship with nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator alongside Qatar in efforts to stop the US-Iran war from resuming. At the same news conference he said President Donald Trump had not decided on new strikes on Iran, even as Tehran said it had no plans for talks with Washington. “We can achieve military objectives if we seek to. He hasn’t made a decision,” Rubio said.
