'Pakistan offered US joint operation against Haqqanis'

Islamabad, Oct 10: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Islamabad had offered Washington an in-sync operation against the Haqqani network.

“We have offered American authorities to visit Pakistan with evidence of Haqqani network’s safe havens in the country. If they find any activity (of Haqqanis) in the targeted areas, our troops along with the US would destroy them once and for all,” Asif said in a talk show ‘Kal Tak’ on Monday evening.

US President Dold Trump, while unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August, pilloried Pakistan for harbouring “agents of chaos” and the “very enemy US forces have been fighting in Afghanistan” for the past 17 years. US and Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of sheltering the Haqqani network — the deadliest of all the Afghan Taliban factions.

The Foreign Minister, who recently toured Washington and met top Trump administration officials, went on to say that army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had made the same offer to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during his Kabul visit earlier this month. Referring to unsavoury criticism from the US, Asif said: “If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially Chi, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side.”(IANS)