By Tamim Hamid
U.S Senator John McCain said on Sunday in Islamabad that there could be no peace in Afghanistan or the rest of the region without Pakistan’s cooperation.
U.S Senator John McCain said on Sunday in Islamabad that there could be no peace in Afghanistan or the rest of the region without Pakistan’s cooperation.
McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with Sartaj Aziz, advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the Pakistani army chief of staff general Qamar Javed Bajwa.
"Our relationship is more important perhaps than ever before," McCain said.
This comes after two U.S officials told Reuters last month that U.S President Donald Trump's administration is exploring hardening its approach toward Islamabad over Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, McCain, who was accompanied by senators Lindsey Graham, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and David Perdue, said: "We will not have peace in the region without Pakistan."
Aziz said that the strategic partnership between Pakistan and the United States "was critical to achieve peace and stability in the region and beyond".
U.S officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties.
Reuters reported that experts on America's longest war have said militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot attacks in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives. Critics claim Islamabad is not doing enough to crack down on militants such as the Taliban and its affiliated group, the Haqqani network.
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