Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: The US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson said that Pakistan has had long-standing ties to the Haqqni network and the Afghan Taliban. Tillerson said this while briefing US lawmakers on Monday night.
Relations with the militant organisations might have helped Pakistan’s stability in the past, but they no longer served that purpose, the secretary told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“And it’s up to Pakistan I think, to think about their longer-term stability and their future by changing that relationship with these organizations,” the senior US diplomat said at the hearing.
Pakistan was ready to crackdown on terrorists if provided with information, Tillerson said, indicating the US planned to provide it the opportunity to prove its willingness.
Asked by Senator John Barrasso to share with the committee the outcome of his last week’s visit to Islamabad, the secretary replied: “Pakistanis have indicated if we provide them information they will act.
“We’re going to have to test that, give them an opportunity to do so. So, we are going to enter into an effort to have greater sharing of certain intelligence information,” Tillerson added.
Cutting its long-standing relationships with certain terrorist organisations would be in the interest of Pakistan, Tillerson was quoted as saying by Dawn.
