1. Tillerson in Pakistan with a tough message on 'safe havens'

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Pakistan to deliver a tough message on the importance of fighting extremists and driving them from hideouts on Pakistani territory.

Tillerson arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, a day after traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan in conditions of strict secrecy. He met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Foreign Minister Khwaja Mohammad Asif and the heads of the army and intelligence services.

Tillerson told Abbasi that Pakistan is “so important regionally to our joint goals of providing peace and security to the region and providing opportunity for greater economic relationship.”

Abbasi said Pakistan is “committed in the war against terror.”

“We have produced results and we are looking forward to moving ahead with the US and building a tremendous relationship,” he said.

“The US can rest assured that we are strategic partners in the war against terror and that today Pakistan is fighting the largest war in the world against terror,” Abbasi said.

“We appreciate the understandings that we agreed and we appreciate the engagement.”

In Afghanistan on Monday, Tillerson had told reporters that Pakistan's cooperation on counter-terrorism is essential for a good relationship with the US.

His comments echoed those of other top US officials who have been pressing Pakistan on the matter.

He said Pakistan needs to “take a clear-eyed view” of its position and act.

“Pakistan needs to, I think, take a clear-eyed view of the situation that they are confronted with in terms of the number of terrorist organizations that find safe haven inside of Pakistan,” he said. “So we want to work closely Pakistan to create a more stable and secure Pakistan as well.”

Earlier this month, the campaign appeared to produce some success when Pakistani security forces assisted with the release of a Taliban-held US-Canadian family after five years in captivity. However, officials cautioned that action needed to be followed with additional steps.

Tillerson, who will visit India after Pakistan, is in South Asia to outline the Trump administration's new strategy for the region, which is heavy on combating extremist groups.

Last week, CIA director Mike Pompeo said that for the strategy to work, the Taliban must be convinced they have no hope of winning militarily in Afghanistan and that means making it impossible for them to cross the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border and hide inside Pakistan.

“To do that you cannot have a safe haven in Pakistan,” he said. But he added that the US had low expectations.

US officials have long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye or assisting the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. Pakistan routinely denies colluding with the militants.

In early October, Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional hearing that it was clear to him that Pakistan's intelligence service had connections to militant groups.

Pakistan has struggled to shake off suspicion that it wields a malign and strategic interest in Afghanistan, on its western border.



Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani on Tuesday expressed concern over the statement made by United States (US) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Afghanistan a day earlier.

"His [Tillerson] tone and tenor are not acceptable," the Senate chairman declared. "His statement came one day before his visit to Pakistan. It seems like a viceroy told Tillerson what to say [on his visit]."

He also summoned Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif to appear before the Senate on Wednesday and inform about the "US demands". He said that the Parliament and Senate have been kept in the dark about the conditions that were laid down by the US.

He also suggested that Tillerson should read the resolutions and recommendations passed by the Parliament "so he knows what [Pakistan's] reaction is".

In a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday, Tillerson had said that Pakistan "needs to take a clear-eyed view of the situation that they are confronted with in terms of the number of terrorist organisations that find safe haven [in the country]".

He arrived in Pakistan earlier in the day and held meetings with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and other top officials.



WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the United States has made “some very specific requests” to Pakistan to undermine the Taliban and would discuss those requests with the Pakistani leadership when he arrives in Islamabad on Tuesday (today).

Talking to journalists at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, Mr Tillerson said the US wanted to work with its “regional partners” to ensure that there were no threats of terrorism in South Asia. This regional effort, he said, was also elaborated in the new US strategy for South Asia that President Donald Trump announced on Aug 21.

“So we’re demanding others also deny safe haven to terrorists anywhere in the region. We are working closely with Pakistan in that regard as well,” a transcript released by the State Department in Washington quoted Mr Tillerson as telling the journalists.

Asked what actions could the US take against Pakistan if it did not accept Washington’s demand for destroying the alleged safe havens from its soil, Mr Tillerson said: “…we have made some very specific requests [to] Pakistan in order for them to take action to undermine the support that the Taliban receives and the other terrorist organisations receive in Pakistan.”

“And we’ve said in this whole strategy this is a conditions-based approach, and so our relationship with Pakistan will also be conditions-based,” he added.

Mr Tillerson said the US relationship with Pakistan was “based upon whether they take action that we feel is necessary to move the process forward of both creating the opportunity for reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan, but also ensuring a stable future Pakistan”.

The top US diplomat insisted that those conditions were not to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan but were equally important for Pakistan as well.

“In our conversations with Pakistani leadership, we’re as concerned about the future stability of Pakistan as we are in many respects here in Afghanistan. Pakistan needs to, I think, take a clear-eyed view of the situation that they’re confronted with in terms of the number of terrorist organisations that find safe haven inside of Pakistan,” he said. “We want to work closely with Pakistan to create a more stable and secure Pakistan as well.”

In reply to a question about Indian role in Afghanistan, he said: “That’s certainly something we’ll be talking about during the [Pakistan] visit tomorrow.”

AP adds: Mr Tillerson said there is a place for moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan’s government as long as they renounce violence and terrorism and commit to stability.

Earlier, he met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior officials at the airbase.

He said the Taliban must understand that they would never win a military victory and should prepare to negotiate with the government.

“Clearly, we have to continue to fight against the Taliban, against others, in order for them to understand they will never win a military victory,” Mr Tillerson said.

“And there are, we believe, moderate voices among the Taliban, voices that do not want to continue to fight forever. They don’t want their children to fight forever. So we are looking to engage with those voices and have them engaged in a reconciliation process leading to a peace process and their full involvement and participation in the government.”

“There’s a place for them in the government if they are ready to come, renouncing terrorism, renouncing violence and being committed to a stable prosperous Afghanistan,” he said.

Mr Tillerson outlined to President Ghani and Mr Abdullah the Trump administration’s new South Asia policy, which the views the region through a lens that includes Afghanistan as well as Pakistan and India.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017