A top state department official stated that the US has continuously urged Pakistan to step up efforts to permanently disband all terrorist groups such as LeT, JuD, and their multiple front organizations.
Matthew Miller, State Department Spokesperson, said that the US will discuss the issue with Pakistani officials on a regular basis and will continue to collaborate with it to tackle common terrorist threats.
Miller further said, “We have also been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and their various front organizations”.
“We will raise the issue regularly with Pakistani officials, and will continue to work together to counter mutual terrorist threats, as we discussed during our March 2023 CT dialogue”, Miller added.
Miller was responding to a question about the joint statement released by India and the United States during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit.
Both US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed their support for coordinated action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen.
The two leaders strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, and the use of terrorist proxies, and they urged Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks.
Miller refused to comment on India’s response to former US president Barack Obama’s remarks about minority rights in India.
On Thursday, in an interview with CNN, Obama reportedly stated that if India does not protect the rights of ethnic minorities, the country will eventually fall apart.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other top officials criticized Obama’s statement, saying, “Obama should also think about how many Muslim countries he has attacked (as US president)”.
Mr. Singh’s statement comes a day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed Obama, saying his views were shocking given that six Muslim-majority nations have endured US bombings during Obama’s presidency.
“We regularly raise concerns about human rights in our conversations with Indian officials”, Miller said in response to another inquiry.
“And you saw President Biden speak to this himself in the joint press conference that he held with Prime Minister Modi”, he added.
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