Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, who held a series of meetings with civil and military officials in Islamabad, said the US had no information regarding Pakistan Army’s latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, PTM.
The United States Wednesday said it does not have the ‘evidence’ suggesting that India is using the Afghan soil to perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan.
“I don’t have the evidence what you’re referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors,” a senior visiting State Department official said in response to a question while interacting with a group of journalists in Islamabad at the US Embassy.
The statement appears to suggest that the US is far from convinced with Pakistan’s narrative on India.
Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, who was in the Pakistani capital as part of delegation headed by Af-Pak Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, was asked about Pakistan’s longstanding allegations against India for sponsoring terrorism from Afghanistan.
Pakistan has long been claiming that India is using the Afghan soil to create trouble and often presented the case of Kulbushan Jadhav as evidence.
About the prospects of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India after the polls are over in the neighbouring country, Wells apparently linked the progress to Pakistan’s commitment of not allowing its territory to be used against India.
She said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that “violence is prerogative of the state that the militant groups can’t take advantage of Pakistani soil.”
The American diplomat made it clear that US would never condone or support any use of ‘terrorist proxies against another country’.
“We have been working very actively with Pakistan to combat whether it’s al Qaeda or TTP. Any terrorist attacking Pakistan is enemy of ours and we share very strong counter-terrorism objectives in defeating extremist forces,” Wells emphasised.
When her attention was drawn towards Pakistan’s concerns regarding India’s role in creating trouble in Balochistan, the US official urged regional countries to respect each other’s sovereignty without naming India.
“We recognise and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. We do not support any separatist or irredentist movements,” Wells said, adding, “We think it’s critical that nations of this region respect one another and work to achieve peace and economic growth.”
The Ameerican diplomat linked the prospects of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India (after the polls are over in the neighbouring country), to Pakistan’s commitment of not allowing its territory to be used against India. Pakistan needs to its commitment to ensure that “violence is prerogative of the state that the militant groups can’t take advantage of Pakistani soil,” she said
Wells, who held a series of meetings with civil and military officials in Islamabad, also said the US had no information regarding Pakistan Army’s latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).
Major General Asif Ghafoor, the chief military spokesperson on Tuesday laid out a chargesheet against the PTM leadership. One of the allegations leveled against the group was about getting funds from Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Wells said the US welcomed Prime Minister Imran’s public statements affirming his resolve not to allow Pakistan’s soil to be used against any other country.
“I would positively note that many comments the prime minister has made in public underscoring his government’s commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the national action plan that Pakistan has forged is implemented,” she said.
She said the steps the government had so far taken to implement the national action plan were ‘positive.’
Wells said under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan, Pakistan had to take specific steps to deal with the terror financing. Ultimately, she said it would not be the US but FATF that would determine the steps taken by Pakistan.
Concerns on CPEC
When asked to specify the US concerns regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Wells said while Washington did not object to infrastructure investment by China, the question remains whether such projects meet the international standards.
She argued that such investments should be transparent, sustainable and should produce benefits for the country.
“So any concern that we have over CPEC projects is with regards to the transparency, the efficacy and the sustainability of the loans,” she explained.
“This is an issue that is not Pakistan specific. We have expressed this concern about belt and road initiative more broadly.
“We welcome the infrastructure investment by China and by all countries so far it advances the prosperity of the countries involved,” she maintained.
“We have had cases whether it’s the Hambantota port of Sri Lanka, whether its prime minister of Malaysia saying enough is enough whether it’s the Maldives where the newly elected president is unwinding projects that have been contracted on non-transparent terms that are not beneficial to Maldives,” she elaborated further.
( Source: Kamran Yousaf’s dispatch in the Express Tribune, May 1, 2019
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1962945/1-us-finds-no-evidence-india-using-afghan-soil-pakistan/)