In response to Trump, Pakistan claims no terrorist groups operate on its soil

[Valin]

Long War Journal

Bill Roggio

August 23, 2017

 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the country does not permit terrorist groups to operate on its soil, and denounced what it called “the false narrative of safe havens.” Instead, Pakistan blamed their long-running dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir as the root cause of instability in the region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responding to President Donald Trump’s assertion that the US “can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond,” during his speech on Aug. 21 that outlined US strategy towards Afghanistan and the wider South Asia region.

“Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people,” Trump said later in the speech, which was a scathing rebuke of Pakistan’s perfidy towards the US and its allies in Afghanistan. “No partnership can survive a country’s harboring of militants and terrorists who target US service members and officials.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Trumps comments yesterday in an official statement which was released on its web site.

“As a matter of policy, Pakistan does not allow use of its territory against any country. Instead of relying on the false narrative of safe havens, the US needs to work with Pakistan to eradicate terrorism,” it claimed. “The threat to peace and security cannot be isolated from the complex interplay of geopolitics, continued existence of festering disputes and pursuit of hegemonic policies. Non-resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the primary obstacle to peace and stability in the region.”

 

 

(Snip)

 

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Mapping terrorist groups openly operating inside Pakistan

 

 

Nope, no terrorist groups here.