US-Pakistan stalemate persists after Mattis visit

United States defence secretary James Mattis has repeated a frequent US call on Pakistan to do more in its fight against armed groups operating in Afghanistan, as he concluded the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two governments.

During a visit to the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Monday, Mattis met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, with both sides pledging to continue to attempt to find "common ground".

"The Secretary emphasised the vital role that Pakistan can play in working with the United States and others to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan that brings stability and security to the region," said a US statement.

"The Secretary reiterated that Pakistan must redouble its efforts to confront militants and terrorists operating within the country."

Ties between the strategic allies have been strained since US President Donald Trump announced a new US policy on Afghanistan and South Asia in August, where he said Pakistan "often gives safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror" and said his government would fundamentally change its approach to the South Asian country.

"Pakistan has also sheltered the same organisations that try every single day to kill our people. We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," Trump said in August.

Pakistan denies that it offers safe havens to any elements of the Afghan Taliban or the Haqqani Network, saying that is has been effectively taking on all armed groups operating in the country since the launch of a major military operation in 2014. - Read More

US-Pakistan stalemate persists after Mattis visit | USA News | Al Jazeera