NEW YORK: The US has held a counter-terrorism dialogue with Pakistan, which hosts several terrorists and terror groups, and they reaffirmed their “shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”, according to their joint statement.
At the dialogue held in Islamabad on Tuesday, the US “applauded Pakistan’s continued successes in containing terrorist entities that pose a threat to the peace and security of the region and the world.”, the statement said.
The statement mentioned three terrorist organisations, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), ISIS-Khorasan, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but was silent about at least five others and their affiliates that are on the US government’s list of terrorist organisations based in Pakistan.
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attacks on the US, was given refuge by Pakistan and was taken out by US Navy Seals in a 2011 raid.
US State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism Gregory LoGerfo and Nabeel Munir, Pakistan’s special secretary for the United Nations, co-chaired the dialogue.
In Washington State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said they “discussed ways to enhance cooperation to counter terrorist threats, and I think that is good for the region and for the world”.
The statement said, “Both sides emphasised that sustained and structured engagement remains vital to countering terrorism and promoting peace and stability”.
The dialogue is not the result of recent bonhomie of US President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s military leadership, but has been held annually since at least 2023 when Democrat Joe Biden was the president.
The statement said the two “delegations underscored the critical importance of developing effective approaches to terrorist threats, including those posed by” the three terrorist groups it named.