Pakistan and U.S. Don’t See Same Urgency in Terror Fight

By Kevin Hulbert

Kevin Hulbert is a former senior intelligence officer in the CIA's Directorate of Operations who retired in June 2014.  He is currently the President of XK Group.  Kevin served multiple overseas tours as CIA Chief of Station and Deputy Chief of Station.

The U.S. is calling on Pakistan to eradicate its safe havens for terrorists or else the U.S. will stop providing security assistance and other support to the country. U.S. President Donald Trump made this clear in his address on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia on Monday night, saying the U.S. will not tolerate Pakistan’s “safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson echoed that in a press briefing at the State Department on Tuesday. “Pakistan must adopt a different approach, and we are ready to work with them to help them protect themselves against these terrorist organizations … We are going to be conditioning our support for Pakistan and our relationship with them on them delivering results in this area,” he said. This comes at a time when the U.S. is increasing its presence in Afghanistan in the war against terrorists – although Trump failed to outline the specifics of a U.S. troop increase. The U.S. relies on using Pakistani territory to supply forces in Afghanistan.  

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