Islamabad, January 05, 2018 (PPI-OT):Foreign Office reacting to Trump administration’s decision to suspend security assistance has said Pakistan has fought the war against terrorism largely from its own resources. Foreign Office spokesperson in a statement said today that war against terror has cost Pakistan over 120 billion dollars in fifteen years.
He said we are determined to continue to do all it takes to secure the lives of our citizens and broader stability in the region. The statement said through a series of major counter-terrorism operations Pakistan cleared all these areas resulting in elimination of organized terrorist presence leading to significant improvement in security in Pakistan.
It said that arbitrary deadlines, unilateral pronouncements and shifting goalposts are counterproductive in addressing common threats. Spokesperson said Pakistan is engaged with the US Administration on the issue of security cooperation and awaits further details. He said Impact of US’ decision on pursuit of common objectives is also likely to emerge more clearly in due course of time. It, however, needs to be appreciate that.
The statement said working towards enduring peace requires mutual respect and trust along with patience and persistence. It further said emergence of new and more deadly groups such as Daesh in Afghanistan call for enhancing international cooperation.
Spokesperson said we believe that Pakistan-US cooperation in fighting terrorism has directly served US national security interests as well as the larger interests of international community. It has helped decimate Al-Qaeda and fight other groups who took advantage of ungoverned spaces, a long porous border and posed a common threat to peace.
He said our efforts towards peace are awaiting reciprocal actions from the Afghan side in terms of clearance of vast stretches of ungoverned spaces on the Afghan side, bilateral border management, repatriation of Afghan Refugees, controlling poppy cultivation, drug trafficking and initiating Afghan-led and owned political reconciliation in Afghanistan.
For more information, contact:
Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage
Government of Pakistan
4th Floor, Cabinet Block, Pak. Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9103557
Email: info@moib.gov.pk
Website: http://www.moib.gov.pk