TILLERSON GIVES PAK A LIST TO ACT AGAINST TERROR GROUPS

WASHINGTON: The US has given Pakistan a list of “very specific requests” for action against the Taliban and other terror groups it allegedly shelters, adding that relations with Islamabad will now be “conditions-based”.

“We have made some very specific requests of Pakistan in order for them to take action to undermine the support that the Taliban and other terrorist organisations receive in Pakistan,” secretary of state Rex Tillerson told reporters, after arriving unannounced in Afghanistan.

“And we’ve said in this whole strategy this is a conditions based approach, and so our relationship with Pakistan will also be conditions-based,” he said.

Tillerson named the Taliban, but not the Haqqani Network, which carries out attacks in Afghanistan from safe havens in Pakistan. He also did not mention groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that target India.

The top US diplomat, who will be in Islamabad on Tuesday before travelling to India, did not say if these requests were in the nature of conditions that Pakistan must meet and if they came with the threat of punitive action, such as aid cuts or revoking its status as a major non-Nato ally.

Tillerson said the Trump administration would work with Pakistan “based upon whether they take action... to move the process forward of creating the opportunity for reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan (and) ensuring a stable Pakistan”.

President Donald Trump has urged India to play a larger role in Afghanistan as part of his South Asia strategy — something Pakistan has objected to.