Pakistan has hit back after
the harshest warning from the US on terror havens in the country. Its Foreign
Office has released a statement objecting to the language used by US
Vice-President Mike Pence that President Donald Trump has put Pakistan on notice
on terror havens including Taliban and Haqqani network.
The statement released by the
spokesperson of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign said the comments made by Pence
were "at variance with the extensive conversations Pakistan has had with
the US administration" on the issue.
Earlier in the day, US
Vice-President Pence, while making a surprise visit to the Bagram Airfield, the
largest US military base in Afghanistan, had bluntly warned Pakistan that it
could no longer escape the writing on the wall that either act on terror havens
on your land or face the wrath of Donald Trump, "For too long Pakistan has
provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those
days are over as President Trump has put Pakistan on notice."
Reacting on Pence's remarks,
the statement from Pakistan further said that "allies do not put each
other on notice" adding that "on notice should be those factors
responsible for exponential increase in drug production, expansion of
ungoverned spaces, industrial scale corruption, breakdown of governance and letting
Daesh (ISIS) gain a foothold in Afghanistan."
Pakistan is also peeved at US
putting India in a pivotal position in its new Afghanistan strategy that Donald
Trump revealed in August.
Pakistan has time and again
ranted about that it cannot accept an increased Indian role in Afghanistan and
today's remarks by Pence again gave it a chance to vent out its frustration on
that front.
While terming Pence's warning
worrisome, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua urged "the US to
treat both Pakistan and India on an equal footing." Reiterating the usual
Pakistani stand that it has destroyed all terror havens from its soil, the
foreign secretary called US statements on the issue 'one-sided'.
Relations between Pakistan
and the US are going through a rough patch these days with US putting its ally
in war against terror on tight notice to crack down on terror network on its
soil including the Haqqani network that harm US interests in Afghanistan.
To counter the US pressure,
Pakistan has resorted to lame rhetoric that it has no terror havens, that it
doesn't need US financial aid, that it will not tolerate Indian footprint in
Afghanistan and that the US, in frustration on its own failures in Afghanistan,
is trying to sift blame to Pakistan.
The anger and disappointment
on Pakistan's attitude has gone on to the extent that the US has stopped the
part of its economic assistance to the country to take action against the
Haqqani Network and has even threatened to end its US ally status. In spite of
Pakistan's claims and reassurances, the Trump administration has refused to
budge from its stand on Pakistan that the country is a terror haven and is
involved in double-dealings and treachery on terror emanating from its soil
that carry out regular attack on US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
©SantoshChaubey
