US wants Pakistan to prove bonafides in terror stampout with irreversible steps

WASHINGTON: Humiliated in the international sphere with the designation by the United Nations of its national Maulana Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist,” Pakistan has been put on notice by the Trump administration to get its act together and root out terror groups and forgo its policy of using terrorism as a policy tool in the region.


Counsel from Washington to this effect, including advising the Pakistani civilian leadership and the country’s military to get on the same page, came even as Islamabad attempted to spin the UN Sanctions Committee’s decision on Wednesday to claim diplomatic success. The fact that yet another of its citizens and a prominent terrorist who roamed the country freely with state patronage had been called out on the global stage did not prevent hairsplitting by Islamabad following the UN setback.

Supported by its ally China, Islamabad took comfort in the fact that mention of Pulwama, Kashmir or Pakistan were dropped from the language finally adopted and cleared by the 1267 sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar– ostensibly as a concession to getting Beijing on board. But US officials left no doubt that a terrorist long coddled by Pakistan, which in turn is supported by China, and the attack on Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, triggered the “global terrorist” designation.

“The United States commends the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee for the designation of Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e Mohammed, a UN-designated terrorist group that was responsible for the February 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed over 40 Indian paramilitary forces,” Garrett Marquis, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said, adding, "Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to south Asia."

The Pulwama attack occurred on February 14, but long before that, Pakistan had been hosting Azhar and other terrorists responsible for multiple terror attacks in India.

Washington on its part also took credit for persuading China to drop its opposition to the “global terrorist” designation of one of the Pakistani military-intelligence unit’s favored proxy on a day it suffered diplomatic setback in South America, where its efforts to tolled Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro came a cropper. “Congrats to our team @USUN for their work in negotiating JEM's Masood Azhar's #UN designation as a terrorist. This long-awaited action is a victory for American diplomacy and the international community against terrorism, and an important step towards peace in South Asia,” secretary of state Mike Pompeo tweeted.




While acknowledging Prime Minister Imran Khan’s commitment to root out terror groups, US officials also noted that he is saying all the right things while hoping the Pakistan military is also on board with the policy. In as much there appeared to be support from the military for the direction Khan seems to be going, past record in this matter that involved Pakistani backtracking did not inspire confidence they said, indicating that the Trump administration will wait reserve judgment on the matter till it sees steps that are consistent and irreversible.

The deep scepticism expressed by Trump administration officials is in line with similar leery views in New Delhi, and different from past sentiments expressed by more credulous US officials who believed in Pakistan’s dodgy pledges on the issue of terrorism. Even after its global humiliation, Pakistani military officials are maintaining that India has not persuaded them to change their policy.

The current dispensation in Washington now appears to recognize that Pakistan has long played a game of revolving doors with its terrorist proxies, putting them under house arrest in safe houses when the international glare is on them, only to release them, often under judicial order pretexts, when the heat is off.

The Trump administration is holding Pakistan’s feet to the fire now not only with regards to cutting off aid, but also indicating that Islamabad will have to prove its bonafides even to get US support in multilateral institutions such as the IMF, with whom Pakistan is engaged in crucial talks this week to seek yet another bailout.


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