Abdullah notes positive change Pakistan’s tone

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): There is a visible change in top Pakistani leadership’s tone with regard to counterterrorism measures, but ground realities in terms of safe heavens and support to militants remain unchanged, Chief Executive Dr Abdullah said on Thursday.

“We have not seen evidence that the Taliban,” Abdullah told reporters at a news conference at the conclusion of the Afghan leader’s visit to Washington.

However, he did note a change in Pakistan’s tone during interactions in the past few months between civilian and military leaders from the two countries. He welcomes the Pakistani Army chief’s statement that the enemy of Afghanistan was their enemy as well.

However, he hastened to add they had not yet seen any evidence of militants not receiving support from Pakistan. “We have not seen that. But we are hopeful this would be the case,” Abdullah said in response to a question on Pakistan’s support to the Taliban.

Discussions on bilateral trade and cooperation with Pakistan were moving in the right direction, but the ground realities remained the same on counter-terrorism issues, even though the civilian leaders were on the same page with Afghanistan on the need to crush all terrorist groups, he said.

“The ground is being prepared and contacts are being established, a mechanism is being discussed for coordination. These are continuous efforts on both sides. But at the moment the ground situation remains the same,” he reiterated.

Realities on the ground had not changed, the CEO said of the continued existence of the Taliban’s Quetta Shura against terrorism. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was keen to address the challenge, he believed.

“The threat is common. We can deal with it, if we don’t distinguish between these groups. They now say terrorism is terrorism. There is no difference between good and bad terrorists. We are not pessimistic; there is a much more positive environment. But we have to work hard to translate it into action,” he concluded.

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