Pakistan rejects role of ‘scapegoat for US failures’ – US officials warn aid cut

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KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 23, (Agencies): Pakistan has rejected US criticism of its efforts to fight terrorism, saying it should not be made a scapegoat for the failure of the US military to win the war in Afghanistan. US President Donald Trump unveiled his policy for Afghanistan on Monday, stepping up the military campaign against Taleban insurgents and singling out Pakistan for harbouring them.

US officials later warned that aid to Pakistan might be cut and Washington might downgrade nuclear-armed Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally, in order to pressure it to do more to help bring about an end to America’s longest-running war.

Pakistan’s powerful military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, met US Ambassador David Hale on Wednesday and told him Pakistan was actively working for peace in Afghanistan. “We have done a lot … and shall keep on doing our best, not to appease anyone but in line with our national interest and national policy,” Bajwa was quoted in an army press statement as telling Hale.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif added his voice to a chorus of indignation over the US criticism, reiterating Pakistan’s denial that it harbours militants. “They should not make Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures in Afghanistan,” Asif said in an interview with Geo TV late on Tuesday.

A group of influential Pakistani clerics including Sami-ul Haq, who runs a Islamic seminary where many senior Afghan Taleban studied, angrily condemned the United States. “America is the enemy of the Muslim ummah (community),” Haq told a press briefing along with other clerics who preach a jihadist doctrine. “The government of Pakistan should quit the alliance for war against socalled terrorism,”

Haq added. “The heavens will not fall if America gets angry with us.” Pakistan has for years been battling homegrown Islamist militants who are seeking to overthrow the state with bomb attacks and assassinations.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that after an effective military effort, a political settlement including some Taleban might be possible, echoing language of the Obama years. He said the US would support peace talks with the Taleban “without preconditions.” On Pakistan, Tillerson said Tuesday that the US could consider sanctions or cutting off Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally if it doesn’t crack down on the Taleban and other extremist groups.

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