Pakistan offered US joint operation against Haqqanis: Khawaja Asif

China, Russia, Iran and Turkey will stand by our side if US puts more pressure to 'do more', says foreign minister

While the United States continues to suspect Pakistan’s fight against terrorists, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif says that Islamabad has offered Washington an in-sync operation against the Haqqani network.

US President Donald Trump, while unveiling his strategy for Afghanistan in August, pilloried Pakistan for harbouring “agents of chaos” and the “very enemy US forces have 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.

“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 told anchor Javed Chaudhry on the Express News show Kal Tak.



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 United States, Asif said, “If the Trump administration exerts more pressure on us, friendly countries, especially China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, will stand by our side.”

He further added that “If the US secretary of state and secretary of defence are coming to dictate us, we will refuse to accept their dictates…and now we will do what is in the best interest of our country.”

Last week, AFP reported that President Trump will dispatch Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis to Pakistan in the coming weeks on a visit designed to drill home the message that Pakistani state support for jihadi groups has to end.