PAK TEAM IN CHINA FOR FATF WORKING GROUP MEETING
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani team headed by a top minister has travelled to Beijing to participate in a crucial meeting of the joint group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that will assess the country’s actions against terror financing. Pakistan was placed on the FATF “grey list” in 2018 for failing to counter fund-raising by groups such as the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: As a top American diplomat for South Asia is visiting Pakistan, the US has called on the country to take “sustained and irreversible action” against terror groups operating from its soil.
A state department spokesperson was quoted by Voice Of America as saying that the US sees bilateral ties as one of potential. “Fulfilling that potential requires progress on our joint efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan and on Pakistan taking sustained and irreversible action against the militant groups and terrorist groups that destabilise the region from its soil,” the spokesperson said.
The comments came as Alice Wells, the acting assistant secretary for South Asia, began a fourday visit to Pakistan on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet senior government officials in Islamabad to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
“We expect our bilateral relationship to continue to mature to one more focused on trade than aid, and we are continuing to target investments in ways that help improve the overall business climate,” the spokesperson added.
There is much room to grow the $6.6-billion annual trade, and the US looks forward to working with Islamabad on energy and agricultural exports in 2020, the spokesperson said.
Wells has already travelled to India and Sri Lanka as part of a regional tour. She arrived in Islamabad days after Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s trip to the US, where he held talks with secretary of state Mike Pompeo and NSA Robert O’Brien.
“Enjoyed meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTI today. We discussed countering Iranian aggression, the Afghan peace process, trade ties, and regional stability,” Pompeo tweeted after meeting Qureshi on Friday.
The upturn in US-Pakistan ties is linked to Islamabad’s cooperation in facilitating Washington’s peace talks with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan.
US President Donald Trump suspended US security aid worth about $2 bn in January 2018 to pressure Pakistan to crack down on terrorist groups operating from its soil. But recent reports said Pakistan-based groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have been sending fighters to Afghanistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would meet Trump this week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the country’s foreign office announced on Monday.