As expected, Mike Pompeo changes tone against Pakistan in India
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*NEW DELHI* - As expected the US Secretary of State Mike Pomepo has changed tone against Pakistan after arrival in India.
The United States (US) Secretary of State echoed India’s reservations regarding the alleged use of “terrorist proxies” by Pakistan in the region.
It called upon Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used “to launch terrorist attacks on other countries”.
The statement was made during the Inaugural India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, a day after US State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Joint Chiefs Marine Corps Chairman General Joseph Dunford’s visit to Pakistan where both sides had agreed to reset the strained relations between the two countries.
Besides, the US had also conveyed the need for Islamabad to take “sustained and decisive measures” against suspected terrorist havens in the country — a long-standing mantra of the US.
In a joint statement issued after the ministerial dialogue attended by India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman and Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis, both countries urged Pakistan to “bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri, and other [alleged] cross-border terrorist attacks” to justice.
Moreover, the participants of the dialogue welcomed the “launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017, which is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, Islamic State (IS), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), the Haqqani Network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), D-Company, and their affiliates”.
Welcoming the expansion of bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation, the “two sides announced their intent to increase information-sharing efforts on known or suspected terrorists and to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2396 on returning foreign terrorist fighters”.
