Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s office, under growing pressure to respond to President Trump’s Monday speech criticizing Pakistan as a safe haven for terrorists, issued a statement today criticizing the US and urging them to do more about militant shelters inside Afghanistan.
“We would like to see effective and immediate US efforts to eliminate sanctuaries harboring terrorists and miscreants on Afghan soil, including those responsible for fomenting terror in Pakistan,” the statement insisted, adding that the US should not expect the Afghan War to be fought in Pakistan.
With both sides complaining about terrorists on the other side of the border, neither is really incorrect. Militant groups are extremely active on the Afghan-Pakistan border, and fighters routinely launch attacks on one side, or the other, and flee to the other side afterwards.
In Pakistan’s statement, they are noting that even as the US expects them to “solve” militant activity on the Pakistan side of the border, the US has proven totally unable to do anything about permanently eliminating militants on the Afghan side of the border either.
Blaming Pakistan for the struggles of the Afghan War has been a popular pastime for both US and Afghan officials,though there is little indication it will ever accomplish anything, beyond attempts to shift the blame.