The Free Press Journal

Will act alone to crush terror, stern US to Pak

- LALIT K JHA

In a blunt message, the US has warned Pakistan that it will not hesitate to act alone, when necessary, to disrupt and destroy terror networks as the country's powerful spy agency ISI was not acting against all terror groups operating on its soil. "The problem is that there are forces within the Pakistani government – specifical­ly in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligen­ce or ISI - that refuse to take similar steps against all the terrorist groups active in Pakistan, tolerating some groups – or even worse," Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary on Countering the Financing of Terrorism, told a Washington audience. "We continue to urge our partners in Pakistan to go after all terrorist networks operating in their country. We stand ready to help them. But there should be no doubt that while we remain committed to working with

Pakistan to confront ongoing terrorist financing and operations, the US will not hesitate to act alone, when necessary, to disrupt and destroy these networks," Szubin warned. In his remarks at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced Internatio­nal Studies, Szubin said at the same time, Pakistan has been -- and remains -a critical counterter­rorism partner in many respects. "Of course, Pakistanis are themselves often the victims of brutal terrorist attacks on schools, markets, and mosques, and the list unfortunat­ely goes on. And in the face of such violence, Pakistan has in some ways pushed back," Szubin said.

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