A spokesperson for U.S. defense secretary, John Kirby, said Lloyd Austin called on Bajwa to Target militant hideouts inside Pakistan.
Kirby said the main reason for the war in Afghanistan is the Taliban hideouts inside Pakistan-controlled areas, which must be targeted and destroyed.
"We are mindful that those safe havens are only providing a source of more insecurity and more instability inside Afghanistan. We are not bashful about having that discussion with Pakistani leaders," John Kirby said.
Kirby said the safe havens are a threat not only to Afghanistan but also to Pakistan.
"We are also mindful that Pakistan and the Pakistani people also fall victim to terrorist activities that emanate from that region. So, we all have a shared sense of the importance of closing down those safe havens and not allowing them to be used by the Taliban or other terrorist networks to sow discord," Kirby added.
Earlier, the Afghan president had also accused Pakistan of sending 10,000 fighters to Afghanistan from the Durand Line, fighting alongside the Taliban against Afghan Security Forces.
However, Pakistani officials refused these accusations and considering them groundless.
For years, however, Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan has been accused of harboring the Taliban and other militant groups on its soil.
But this is the first time that the U.S. directly called on Pakistan to destroy Taliban hideouts inside their soil.
