Washington: The United States is not contemplating military action inside Pakistan, the Pentagon has said, refuting such reports appearing in Pakistani newspapers.
Instead, the US seeks Pakistan’s cooperation and assistance in various operations under its new South Asia strategy, Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
“We actually don’t contemplate military operations inside Pakistan. On the other hand, we recognise, because the strategy is inherently regional and Pakistan is geographically located at a critical nexus of a lot of different things, Pakistan is a fundamental part of the strategy,” said McKenzie.
“Through a variety of measures, we look to gain Pakistani cooperation and assistance as we pursue operations in Afghanistan. But we’re not planning to conduct military operations inside Pakistan,” he told Pentagon
reporters in response to a question.
Under the new South Asia strategy, Pakistan has an opportunity to be a partner in fight against terrorism, Pentagon’s Chief Spokesperson Dana White said.
“It (Pakistan) has been a victim of terrorism, and it has supported terrorism. We are looking for Pakistan to actively join — it can do the things we need them to do to confront terrorism,” said White.
“So it’s an inflection point, it’s an opportunity, and we hope Pakistan will take it,” she said in response to a question.
The US has recently suspended about $2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens
Freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan came days after US President Donald Trump, in a New Year’s Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but “lies and deceit” and providing “safe haven” to terrorists in return for $33 billion aid over the last 15 years.
White refuted impression that there is connection between the recent attacks in Kabul and the US’ decision to suspend aid to Pakistan.
‘India key player in US’ SA Strategy’
Washington: India is a key player in President Donald Trump’s South Asia Strategy, the Pentagon has said. “Our relationship with India is multifaceted. India is helping with respect to the South Asian Strategy. They’ve provided a tremendous amount of developmental aid. They’ve also offered to help with aviation maintenance,” Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Dana White, told reporters at a news conference Thursday. She was responding to questions on India’s role in fight against terrorism. There’s an opportunity. India’s a perfect example of where the (defence) secretary wants to find and build relationships with partners, and so that’s what we are doing.
PTI
