*WASHINGTON: Pakistan is doing the “bare minimum” to squeeze the Talibanand terror groups, a senior US administration official said Friday.*

While Pakistan has always said that it hah played its role more than anyother country in eliminating terrorism, and no other country had sufferedas much as Pakistan in the war against terror.

The official´s comments also come as Pakistan is trying to avoid being puton a global watch list.

“The Pakistanis have wanted to appear responsive” the official said oncondition of anonymity, sketching out the need for increased pressure.

“They have done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests,” theofficial added, citing the need to prod the Taliban toward the negotiatingtable and round-up militants.

“We continue to make very specific requests, and when provided with veryspecific information they have responded, but we have not seen thempro-actively take the steps that we expect and know they are capable of.”

It is more than 200 days since President Donald Trump announced America´slatest strategy to win the long war in Afghanistan, focusing on pushing theTaliban to the negotiating table.

The plan demanded Pakistan move against Taliban leaders who support acontinuation of the war, under the threat of cutting US military assistanceand Afghanistan coalition funding to Islamabad.

“We didn´t think this would be easy,” the official said. “We need tosustain the pressure.”

“I don´t think that we can just the efficacy of the strategy right now. Weshould give it more time, it deserves more time,” the official added,suggesting an August anniversary of Trump´s strategy speech may be a goodtime to reflect.

Members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti money-launderingwatchdog based Paris, voted last month to place Pakistan on its grey listto give the country three months to make enough changes to avoid thelisting. – APP/AFP