The United States has said that Pakistan has a right to defend itself against terrorism.
The comments were made by US State Department spokesperson Ned Price regarding Islamabad’s National Security Committee’s (NSC) warning of action against Afghanistan.
“We’re aware of the recent statement by the Pakistani National Security Committee. The Pakistani people have suffered tremendously from terrorist attacks. Pakistan has a right to defend itself from terrorism,” he said, as reported by IANS.
Price was replying to a question at his daily briefing about what is seen as a threat to Afghanistan in the NSC statement on Monday that “no country will be allowed to provide sanctuaries and facilitation to terrorists and Pakistan reserves all rights in that respect to safeguard her people”.
Islamabad has complained about cross-border attacks by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from bases in Afghanistan protected by the Taliban regime in Kabul.
The report quoting Price said that the Afghan Taliban has been “unable or unwilling” to fulfil its commitment to not allow its territory to be used for terrorism.
The US calls “on the Taliban to uphold the very commitment they have made to see to it that Afghan soil is never again used as a launchpad for international terrorist attacks”, he said.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also hinted during a TV programme that Islamabad was planning strikes on TTP bases in Afghanistan, according to Dawn newspaper.
