06 July 2017

News Story: U.S Senators Call For Elimination Of Taliban Safe Havens

By Samim Faramarz

A U.S. congressional delegation on Tuesday warned that Washington will change its approach towards Pakistan if Islamabad fails to tackle militants effectively.

The five-member bipartisan delegation which comprises senator John McCain and  fellow senators Lindsey Graham, Elizabeth Warren, David Perdue and Sheldon Whitehouse arrived in Kabul on Tuesday after holding discussions with Pakistani officials in Islamabad.

The congressional delegation stressed the need for the elimination of the Taliban and its brutal offshoot Haqqani Network and their safe havens in Pakistan.

They said that the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan was needed and that more authorities should be given to these forces to win the war in the country.

“We told them (Pakistan) that in our view, the Haqqani having a safe zone in their country was not acceptable. They (Pakistan) responded that they have taken some measures which is true, such as clearing Waziristan and doing some other work that I think has been important. We told them that we would be discussing the entire situation with the president, with general Mattis and General McMaster. We made it very clear that we expect them to help us in cooperating in our struggle particularly against Haqqani as well as other terror organizations,” said McCain.

Read the full story at TOLOnews