After the weekend terror attack in Kabul, the US White House Monday demanded Pakistan in no uncertain terms that it needs to immediately arrest or expel the Taliban's leaders who operate from Pakistani territory. "We call on Pakistan to immediately arrest or expel the Taliban's leaders and prevent the group from using Pakistani territory to support its operations," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House spokeswoma
WASHINGTON,(Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2018) : After the weekend terror attack in Kabul, the US White House Monday demanded Pakistan in no uncertain terms that it needs to immediately arrest or expel the Taliban's leaders who operate from Pakistani territory. "We call on Pakistan to immediately arrest or expel the Taliban's leaders and prevent the group from using Pakistani territory to support its operations," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House spokeswoman.
The White House statement came even as the Trump administration has doubled down on the pressure on Pakistan, which it alleges provides safe haven to terrorists and terror groups that carry out attacks in Afghanistan and in India. "Such attacks on civilians only strengthen our resolve to support our Afghan partners. Afghan forces with our support will continue to relentlessly pursue the enemies of Afghanistan who also seek to export terror around the world," said the White House spokeswoman.
On Sunday, Pakistan's foreign office had rejected “knee-jerk allegations” by some Afghan circles of the Kabul attack. Barely an hour after the White House called upon Pakistan to “expel and arrest” Taliban leaders operating from its soil on Monday, Pakistani ambassador to the US said his country had already evicted them and their facilities and threw an “open challenge” to anyone who could point to surviving safe havens.
Shortly after Sanders’ briefing, Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said at a think-tank, his country’s military forces had “cleaned out” all terrorists, their “hideouts and sanctuaries and their IED (improvised explosive devices) factories” from Pakistan in operations since 2014 and “when somebody turns around and tells us that there are safe havens existing there we say to them please show us where”. “It’s an open challenge,” the envoy added. “It’s been 10 months or so we have been saying please show us we will ourselves like to eliminate them if someone is hiding in any caves in Pakistan.” The reference to “10 months” was possibly to the length of the ambassador’s tenure in DC after assuming office in March 2017.
