Washington
\nPresident Donald Trump will dispatch his top diplomatic and military advisers to Pakistan in the coming weeks, turning up the heat on a nuclear-armed ally accused of harbouring terror groups.<\/p>\n
Weeks after Trump angrily accused Islamabad of providing safe haven to \u201cagents of chaos\u201d, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to depart for Pakistan late this month.<\/p>\n
He will be followed by Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, according to US and Pakistani sources.<\/p>\n
The one-two punch is designed to drill home Trump\u2019s message that Pakistani state support for jihadist groups has to end, according to officials briefed on the visits.<\/p>\n
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
\nWashington has long been frustrated by Pakistan\u2019s willingness to offer cross-border safe havens to Taliban factions and armed Islamist groups fighting US troops and their Afghan allies.<\/p>\n
The relationship reached the breaking point in 2011, when president Barack Obama sent commandos into Pakistan in 2011 to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who was living in a military garrison town.<\/p>\n
With little change since then, Trump came to office indicating that Washington\u2019s frustration had reached the point where something had to give.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars; at the same time, they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,\u201d he said in an August address.<\/p>\n
But in the six weeks since Trump signalled that tougher tone, there have been precious few signs that the calculus in South Asia has changed.<\/p>\n
Mattis told Congress this week that he would try \u201cone more time\u201d to \u201csee if we can make this work\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this point, we have not seen any impact on military-to military relations,\u201d said one Pentagon official, suggesting any change would not happen after Mattis\u2019 visit.<\/p>\n
Visiting Washington, Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister Khawaja Asif appeared unwavering.<\/p>\n
He lashed out at \u201chollow allegations\u201d about Pakistan harbouring terrorists as \u201cnot acceptable\u201d. \u201cThat is not the way you talk to 70-year-old friends,\u201d Asif said bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of accusations and threats we should cooperate with each other for the peace in the region,\u201d he said while confirming Tillerson\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
While professing anger in public, Pakistani officials in private complain about receiving no concrete requests to target the Haqqani network or other groups.<\/p>\n
US officials have been reticent to share some intelligence for fear of tipping off targets with links inside Pakistan\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, a US drone killed three suspected militants in an attack on a compound in Pakistan\u2019s tribal region.<\/p>\n
Pakistani officials also complain of receiving mixed messages from the Trump administration, which is still struggling to find its feed under a mercurial commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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