WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Wednesday asked Pakistan to put in "additional efforts to target all terrorists in its territory," while declining to even acknowledge Islamabad's complaint about alleged Indian interference in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan.
Washington's public snub was delivered soon after a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during which the Pakistani side reportedly presented three dossiers on "India's role in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan." But neither Kerry nor his aides acknowledged the dossier or the charges, and attempts to raise it at the daily state department briefing ended in embarrassment for Pakistan.
The exchanges went as follows:
QUESTION: The Pakistani handout also refers about them submitting to US three dossiers on India's role in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan. Have you received those dossiers - three documents from Pakistanis?
SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY: I'm not aware that we have.
QUESTION: Can you take this question - confirm it or deny it?
JOHN KIRBY: I will take the question. I don't know how much detail we're going to be able to get into.
QUESTION: Just say yes or no. Have you received those documents from Pakistan or no?
JOHN KIRBY: I said I'll take the question.
Kerry himself made no mention of the dossier in a brief tweet about his meeting with Sharif during which he said they discussed "security, regional, global issues."
Pakistan, which sheltered Osama bin Laden and protects State Department and UN-designated terrorists (Lashkar-e-Taiba's Hafiz Saeed among others) while trying to rewrite the terrorism narrative, suffered a similar humiliation at the UN last month when a dossier it claimed to have given to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon (but was actually handed over to his chief of staff) was similarly ignored.
Instead, the Obama administration made no secret of its view that Pakistan's fight against terrorism has been selective and incomplete, saying two leaders discussed "the need for additional efforts to target all terrorists in its territory," and while there is much that Pakistan has done, it can continue to do more "to help us get at the counterterrorism challenge there in the region."
Asked what additional measures needed to be taken and against whom, Kirby declined to go into specifics but said terrorism remains a significant challenge and "it's something that we continue to partner with Pakistan on."
Last week, unnamed US sources had blamed Pakistan's terrorist activities in Afghanistan for the Kunduz bombing fiasco when its jets obliterated a hospital, saying Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI was using the hospital as a command and control center.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration also declined to get into the broader India-Pakistan tangle, with spokesman Kirby reiterating the now familiar US position of encouraging direct talks between the two sides.
"We continue to believe that India and Pakistan stand to benefit from practical cooperation, and we encourage both India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions," he said, adding that the normalization of relations between Pakistan and India is vital to both countries and to the region, and steps that initiate closer regional trade and energy ties we believe will create jobs, lower inflation, and increase energy supply.
Kerry, widely seen as sympathetic to Pakistan despite recent accounts of his frustration with the Washington's some-time ally, tempered the US rebuke with bouts of praise commending Sharif for "Pakistan's regional efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism, especially in bringing to justice al-Qaida leadership," without specifically referring to the Osama bin Laden episode. A former Pakistan diplomat wrote in a recent column that a frustrated Kerry had banged his fist on the table while hectoring Sharif by his first name during a meeting in New York last month.
Pakistan's dossier diplomacy, frothily lathered up by its media, was always doomed given the country's record and dismal reputation of breeding and often sheltering scores of terrorists, from those involved in two attacks on the World Trade Center, to innumerable attacks in Afghanistan and India, including in Mumbai and Delhi. But Islamabad has ratcheted up a narrative of Indian interference in recent weeks in an effort to absolve itself of responsibility that became even more stark with the finding of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
Sharif is scheduled to meet President Obama in the White House at 11 am tomorrow.
US snubs Pakistan’s bogus complaint about Indian interference in Balochistan - The Times of India
Washington's public snub was delivered soon after a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during which the Pakistani side reportedly presented three dossiers on "India's role in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan." But neither Kerry nor his aides acknowledged the dossier or the charges, and attempts to raise it at the daily state department briefing ended in embarrassment for Pakistan.
The exchanges went as follows:
QUESTION: The Pakistani handout also refers about them submitting to US three dossiers on India's role in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan. Have you received those dossiers - three documents from Pakistanis?
SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY: I'm not aware that we have.
QUESTION: Can you take this question - confirm it or deny it?
JOHN KIRBY: I will take the question. I don't know how much detail we're going to be able to get into.
QUESTION: Just say yes or no. Have you received those documents from Pakistan or no?
JOHN KIRBY: I said I'll take the question.
Kerry himself made no mention of the dossier in a brief tweet about his meeting with Sharif during which he said they discussed "security, regional, global issues."
Pakistan, which sheltered Osama bin Laden and protects State Department and UN-designated terrorists (Lashkar-e-Taiba's Hafiz Saeed among others) while trying to rewrite the terrorism narrative, suffered a similar humiliation at the UN last month when a dossier it claimed to have given to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon (but was actually handed over to his chief of staff) was similarly ignored.
Instead, the Obama administration made no secret of its view that Pakistan's fight against terrorism has been selective and incomplete, saying two leaders discussed "the need for additional efforts to target all terrorists in its territory," and while there is much that Pakistan has done, it can continue to do more "to help us get at the counterterrorism challenge there in the region."
Asked what additional measures needed to be taken and against whom, Kirby declined to go into specifics but said terrorism remains a significant challenge and "it's something that we continue to partner with Pakistan on."
Last week, unnamed US sources had blamed Pakistan's terrorist activities in Afghanistan for the Kunduz bombing fiasco when its jets obliterated a hospital, saying Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI was using the hospital as a command and control center.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration also declined to get into the broader India-Pakistan tangle, with spokesman Kirby reiterating the now familiar US position of encouraging direct talks between the two sides.
"We continue to believe that India and Pakistan stand to benefit from practical cooperation, and we encourage both India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tensions," he said, adding that the normalization of relations between Pakistan and India is vital to both countries and to the region, and steps that initiate closer regional trade and energy ties we believe will create jobs, lower inflation, and increase energy supply.
Kerry, widely seen as sympathetic to Pakistan despite recent accounts of his frustration with the Washington's some-time ally, tempered the US rebuke with bouts of praise commending Sharif for "Pakistan's regional efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism, especially in bringing to justice al-Qaida leadership," without specifically referring to the Osama bin Laden episode. A former Pakistan diplomat wrote in a recent column that a frustrated Kerry had banged his fist on the table while hectoring Sharif by his first name during a meeting in New York last month.
Pakistan's dossier diplomacy, frothily lathered up by its media, was always doomed given the country's record and dismal reputation of breeding and often sheltering scores of terrorists, from those involved in two attacks on the World Trade Center, to innumerable attacks in Afghanistan and India, including in Mumbai and Delhi. But Islamabad has ratcheted up a narrative of Indian interference in recent weeks in an effort to absolve itself of responsibility that became even more stark with the finding of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
Sharif is scheduled to meet President Obama in the White House at 11 am tomorrow.
US snubs Pakistan’s bogus complaint about Indian interference in Balochistan - The Times of India
