Washington: Voice of America (VOA) reports that Pakistan’s army chief is in Washington this week to request US support against what Islamabad claims are terrorist havens in neighboring Afghanistan.
According to experts, General Asim Munir is attempting to persuade US defense and security officials that extremist organizations like IS-K and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are a threat not only to Pakistan but also to international and US security.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, stated that “in seeking US sympathy and support for Pakistan’s counterterrorism concerns, he may note the many years of US-Pakistan military cooperation that includes some counterterrorism collaborations, as well as many years of military education and training exchanges.”
“He’ll probably also mention that both nations are under threat from IS-K and TTP in Afghanistan,” Kugelman continued.
According to a brief statement from the Pentagon, Munir met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday to discuss “recent regional security developments and potential areas for bilateral defense cooperation.”
The US has maintained what US officials refer to as “over-the-horizon capabilities” in the region—the capacity to strike targets in response to security threats—in Afghanistan even after the withdrawal of troops more than two years ago. The previous leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in Kabul in July 2022 by a US drone strike.
Pakistan’s accusations have been consistently rejected by the de facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, who assert that they do not allow individuals or groups to operate out of Afghanistan and pose a threat to any nation.
The TTP insurgency has plagued Pakistan for almost 20 years, but since the Afghan Taliban reclaimed power in 2021, according to Pakistani officials, the group has intensified its terrorist activities.
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Munir met Thomas West, the US special representative for Afghanistan, in Islamabad prior to traveling to Washington.
On X, West stated that the TTP presents “severe security challenges” and that “the United States stands with Pakistan against terrorism in the region.”
Although expressing compassion and empathy, the US does not appear to be specifically considering taking military action against TTP hideouts in Afghanistan, at least not at this time.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday, “With respect to relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, obviously we support diplomatic resolution to all of the various issues between those two countries.”
When asked what kind of support the US would offer Pakistan, Miller responded on Wednesday that the US had funded several counterterrorism capacity-building programs in that country that were centered on justice and law enforcement
Washington seems to have a position based on its own evaluation of risk.
Former CIA counterterrorism chief Robert Grenier told VOA in written comments that “the US, and particularly the current administration, is fed up with military involvement in South-Central Asia.”
“The US will remain neutral absent attacks on US interests that are clearly coming from Afghanistan,” he declared.
