REGARDLESS of rendering immense losses in the war on terror, both in terms of material and human, the US continues to disregard and undermine them by raising question marks on the country’s anti-terrorism efforts. The US State Department, in its Congressional mandated annual Country Reports on Terrorism for the year 2018, on Friday accused Pakistan of failing to ‘significantly limit’ militant outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) from fundraising and recruiting.
Our Foreign Office very aptly rejected the report as the one which completely overlooks the factual situation on the ground, and indeed it is so which indicates that Washington wants to keep Pakistan under pressure to achieve its motives in the region. The fact is that as a result of effective anti-terrorism operations, Pakistan has wiped out terrorism from its tribal belt and other parts of the country. Peace stands restored in Pakistan and the reduction in the number of attacks and casualties is a testimony of the successes achieved by our valiant security forces in the war on terrorism. There may be some remnant elements or the sleeper cells which off and on come out and carry out their nefarious acts, for which we need to be cautious and take the requisite steps to eradicate them. However, the US should not blame Pakistan or make it a scapegoat for its (US) own failures in Afghanistan where it has miserably failed to check undesirable elements. Most importantly it was under its nose that the ISIS emerged in the war-torn country. Recent meetings of Prime Minister Imran Khan with the US President Donald Trump have proved to be very important in rebuilding the tense relations between the two countries. It is important to keep up that momentum instead of again pointing the accusatory finger on Pakistan which is going an extra mile to make the Afghan reconciliation process successful. Both the countries must maintain the engagement level at different levels in order to better develop understanding of each other’s point of view. The US rather should reconsider its earlier proposal of establishing Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in the tribal areas in order to help Pakistan uplift these terror-hit areas which will also go a long way in promoting economic and trade relations between the two countries.
