‘Don’t want to say that Pakistan can do more, but Islamabad knows what it needs to do’

‘Don’t want to say that Pakistan can do more, but Islamabad knows what it needs to do’

Washington (Web Desk): The US State Department said that President Trump’s concern about Pakistan not taking enough action about terrorism was nothing new.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert while responding to questions during a regular press briefing said, “The United States expects Pakistan to take decisive action against the Haqqani Network and other militants who are operating from its soil.”

“Pakistan is an important partner,” said Nauert, “We have a lot of issues in that region. Pakistan knows that, we all know that, and we try to work carefully together on some of those issues, but Pakistan – I don’t want to say that Pakistan can do more, but Pakistan knows what it needs to do.”

She said, “We [Trump administration] expect Pakistan – and we’ve made clear, and the President has made clear in the past also through his new strategy that was announced back in August about the Asia – the new Asia strategy – that the United States expects Pakistan to take decisive action against the Haqqani Network and other militants who are operating from its soil.”

“And they need to better – to earn, essentially, the money that we have provided in the past in foreign military assistance, they need to show that they are sincere in their efforts to crack down on terrorists,” clarified the US State Department official during the media briefing.

The President of the United States Donald Trump said on Monday that the US ‘foolishly’ gave aid to Pakistan over the course of 15 years but Islamabad remained deceitful by providing safe havens to ‘terrorists’ from Afghanistan.