TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The US wants to make sure that there are no terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and is working with all NATO members and India to make Islamabad do everything to cut the insurgents off, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said. He said that President Donald Trump’s new South Asia strategy comprised regionalisation, realigning of forces and reinforcing them.
Trump, while announcing his South Asia policy in August, had criticised Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists. The Trump administration since then has been putting pressure on Pakistan to do more to rein in terror groups.
“What we want to do is start with — from India to across the region — is to make certain that everyone’s working off the same sheet of music. We want to make certain that no terrorist organisation can find a haven anywhere, and, with a border adjoining Afghanistan, that makes Pakistan a priority,” Mattis said. As such the US is engaging with the Pakistanis, he added.