WASHINGTON – The US State Department’s second-in-command said the US“continues to value its relationship” with Pakistan and “recognises thebenefits of cooperation”.
“Pakistan has played an important role in pushing al Qaeda closer todefeat, combating ISIS, securing its nuclear weapons, hosting Afghanrefugees, and, importantly, providing access for supplies and equipmentused by US and Afghan forces, he said adding, “We also acknowledge theenormous sacrifices the Pakistani people and security forces have made tocombat terrorism.”
He added that the US would restore security assistance to Pakistan “when wesee decisive and sustained actions to address our concerns, includingtargeting all terrorist groups operating within its territory, withoutdistinction.”
He said that the US is committed to doing its part to reduce tensions inthe region in ways that address Pakistan’s legitimate concerns.
“To be clear, we oppose the use of terrorist proxies by any country againstanother country, anywhere in the world. The use of terrorism has no placein a rules-based international system. We hope the Pakistanis will alsohelp to convince the Taliban to enter a peace process.”
On India, he said the US continues “to deepen our strategic partnershipwith India,” while bringing up Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s October2017 trip to New Delhi.
“We expect to launch our inaugural 2+2 dialogue with India in Washingtonthis spring when Secretary Tillerson and Secretary Mattis will meet withtheir Indian counterparts to further deepen our security ties.”
He said the US and India share economic and humanitarian interests inAfghanistan. “India has allocated more than $3 billion in assistance toAfghanistan since 2001. India further strengthened ties with Afghanistanwith the signing of a Development Partnership Agreement last year. Weappreciate these contributions and will continue to look for more ways towork with India to promote economic growth and stability in Afghanistan.”
Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriversaid that the US is now focusing the Afghanistan portion of the South AsiaStrategy on four key pillars – regionalisation aimed at enlisting thesupport of regional actors and enhancing overall regional stability;reinforcement of Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF)capacity, capabilities and overall effectiveness; realignment of US,coalition, and Afghan resources; and an Afghan-led peace processfacilitating political settlement and reconciliation.
“All of these critical pillars of the strategy are complementary, mutuallysupportive, and designed to integrate through a political, fiscal, andmilitary sustainable model,” Schriver said.
He added that the US is equally focused on minimising malign influence inAfghanistan, particularly from Russia and Iran.
“We have asked regional partners to leverage their relationships withAfghanistan and Pakistan to reinforce our calls for broader cooperationbetween the two countries. We are also relying on regional partners such asIndia to increase their economic and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.”
He said Pakistan is a long-standing and important partner, with deephistorical ties to the US, and is key to the success of the South AsiaStrategy.