New York/Washington, Jun 11 (PTI) The United States has to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India, a top US general has said, noting that it cannot be a “binary switch” where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi.
US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), made the comments during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“We have to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India. I do not believe it is a binary switch that we can’t have one with Pakistan if we have a relationship with India,” Kurilla said. “We should look at the merits of the relationship for the positives that it has.” “ISIS Khorasan (ISIS K) is perhaps one of the most active in trying to do external plots globally to include against the homeland. The Taliban is going after ISIS K – they hate each other, and have pushed a lot of them into the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border,” he said at the full Committee Hearing on ‘US Military Posture and National Security Challenges AFRICOM + CENTCOM.’ “Through a phenomenal partnership with Pakistan, they have gone after ISIS Khorasan, killing dozens of them. Through a relationship we have with them providing intelligence, they have captured at least five ISIS Khorasan high value individuals.” He said they extradited ISIS-K terrorist Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” to face charges for his role in the August 26, 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that killed 13 United States military service members and about 160 civilians.
Kurilla added that he was the first person Pakistan’s then Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir had called and had said ‘I’ve caught him. I’m willing to extradite him back to the United States. Please tell the Secretary of Defence and the President’.” “So we are seeing Pakistan, with limited intelligence that we’re providing them, go after them, using their means to do that, and we’re seeing an effect on ISIS-K” “The ISIS-K terrorists are continuing to move around and sometimes they’ll try and go back into Afghanistan…. … for the most part right now, they’re hanging out right in that border area of Pakistan,” he added.
Pakistan is “in an active counterterrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world,” the top general added.
Kurilla’s comments came days after an all-party Indian Parliamentary delegation visited the US to convey India’s strong resolve to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
