WASHINGTON - The United States has stepped its calls on Pakistan to combat terrorists especially the Taliban leadership, following the killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour by a drone strike in Balochistan.
The latest call for action came after a Pakistani television correspondent asked a US State Department spokesman at the daily press briefing whether the United States would help Pakistan locate TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, who is reported to be somewhere in Afghanistan.
"We continue to cooperate closely with Afghanistan, but also urge Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially Taliban leadership, and that cooperation continues," Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Friday.
Meanwhile, a former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, James Cunningham, said the drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour inside Pakistan should send a signal that the United States will not tolerate terrorist safe havens.
“I hope that this is the beginning of a message that we will not tolerate any more the strategic challenge that is posed by the leadership of the Taliban being in Pakistan and having a safe haven there,” Cunningham, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center," was quoted as saying in a media interview.
“To really get to a peace discussion [in Afghanistan], the Taliban have to come to the conclusion that the option of military force and terror will not get them back to the establishment of the emirate, which is what they want,” he said. “In order for that to happen, the status quo needs to be disrupted and that means we need to find a way to impact the safe havens in Pakistan."
“It has become increasingly clear that if the status quo remains it will be exceedingly difficult to make progress, both in terms of the security situation and in terms of actually getting the Taliban leadership to a serious negotiation,” said Cunningham. “It is not enough just to get [the Taliban] to sit at a table, it is necessary to get them engaged in a political process.”
“Mansour had done a pretty good job of bringing disaffected Taliban leaders into his camp,” said Cunningham, adding that his death will likely reopen rifts.
Unlike Omar’s death, which Mansour kept secret from the Taliban rank and file for two years while he established his own leadership, Mansour’s death is a “sudden dislocation,” said Cunningham.
INDIA'S NSG MEMBERSHIP NOT ABOUT ARMS RACE: US
Pakistan should understand that India's expected entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is not about an arms race, but about civilian use of atomic energy, a US State Department spokesman has said, while also promising to consider Pakistan's application to join the elite 48-member body.
“This is not about an arms race and it’s not about nuclear weapons. This is about the peaceful civil use of nuclear energy, and so we would certainly hope that Pakistan understands that,” spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters at the daily press briefing.
He was responding to questions about Pakistan's opposition to India’s application for membership at the NSG on the ground that this would escalate nuclear arms race in the region.
“Look, all I can say is that during his visit to India in 2015, President (Barack) Obama did affirm the US view that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for membership. But it’s a consensus body, so we’ll wait and see how the vote goes,” Toner said.
“Deliberations about the prospects of new members joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group are an internal matter among the current members. I don’t have much to say beyond that other than that I think they meet regularly.”
“This is not a specific meeting, I believe — not set up to particularly talk about this issue,” Toner said. “They (Pakistan) have made public their interest, and certainly any country can submit its application for membership. We will consider based on a consensus decision.”