ISLAMABAD – Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief and new US StateSecretary Mike Pompeo appointment may not go well for Pakistan.
Former CIA Chief had openly warned Pakistan in the near past over allegedsafe heavens and went to an extent of action in case of failure.
Pompeo, who was yesterday announced the next US Secretary of Statereplacing Rex Tillerson, has called Pakistan a safe haven for terroristswho continue to threaten US.
Taking Trump’s line that Pakistan is safe terror haven, as exemplified inin his New Year Day tweet that “the United States had foolishly givenPakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, andthey have given them nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of the USleaders as fools,” Pompeo has said in interviews*.
Reminding Pakistan of trying to fix the problem itself, Pompeo said in aninterview to the CBS last month, “We are doing our best to inform thePakistanis that that it is no longer going to be acceptable” and added that”if Pakistan could fix this problem, we’re happy to continue to engage withthem and be their partner, but if they don’t, we’re going to protectAmerica.”
Before that, in December 2017, Pompeo, just weeks before Trump’s ‘now ornothing’ warning, had warned Pakistan to weed out terrorism from its safehavens.
When Pompeo was asked how the job would be done, quoting US DefenceSecretary James Mattis who was in Pakistan then, he said, “Mattis will makeclear Donald Trump’s intent and will deliver the message that we wouldloveyou to do that” and warned that “in the absence of the Pakistanisachieving that, the US would be going to do everything it can to make surethat that safe haven no longer exists.”