Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet with Pakistan’s top diplomat in the coming weeks to discuss the White House’s new Afghan war plan, a strategy that calls upon Islamabad to take a larger role in combating terror groups within its own borders.
The scheduled meeting between Mr. Tillerson and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif in Washington comes after President Trump flatly accused the Pakistani government of harboring extremist groups in the country.
“We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond,” Mr. Trump said during a primetime television address Monday night, outlining the administration’s new Afghan strategy.
“Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists,” the commander in chief told the crowd of U.S. service members at Fort Myer in Arlington, Va.
American Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale met with Mr. Asif in Islamabad shortly after Mr. Trump’s speech, in which the president repeatedly accused Pakistan of protecting groups like the infamous Haqqani Network and other “organizations that try every single day to kill our people.”
Pakistani officials declined to respond specifically to Mr. Trump’s comments in an official statement released Tuesday. Rather, Pakistani officials emphasized the country’s “desire for peace and stability in Afghanistan.” the Associated Press reported.
Washington and Islamabad have been uncomfortable bedfellows in counterterrorism operations tied to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan since the American invasion of Pakistan’s neighbor in 2001.
The relationship has been rife with allegations that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, has been covertly training and financing extremist terror groups. Islamabad has fired back counter-accusations that Washington’s heavy military and political support for India has undermined regional stability efforts, spearheaded by Pakistan.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel said the first tranche of new American troops called for in the White House’s new Afghan strategy will begin arriving in country within weeks. The influx of new U.S. forces into Afghanistan, which are part of the reported 4,000-man force Mr. Trump is ordering into the country, should begin deploying “pretty quickly,” the four-star general told reporters while traveling in Saudi Arabia.
“What’s most important for us now is to get some capabilities in to have an impact on the current fighting season,” he said, according to the AP.
Aside from more troops, Mr. Trump’s new Afghan strategy also called for expanded authorities for U.S. forces in the country to go after extremist groups operating in the country, effectively restarting the American combat mission in the country that officially ended in 2015.
The decision to expand the rules of engagement for U.S. forces in Afghanistan falls in line with the administration’s strategy for American forces supporting ongoing offensives against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Afghan forces have waged war against the Taliban and now the Islamic State’s faction in the country, with U.S. troops only providing military assistance. Under Mr. Trump’s new plan, American forces will be able to engage against terror groups “that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan,” he said, adding that “retribution will be fast and powerful.”
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.