US says it supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against ‘terrorist attacks’
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – Washington “supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks” as the intermittent conflict between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan continues, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.
Here are some quotes and details:
• The State Department added: “The people of Pakistan have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists.”
• Former allies Afghanistan and Pakistan fought their worst war in recent years in February.
• At least 28 civilians were killed and 49 civilians were injured in Pakistan’s air strikes on the Afghanistan border, the United Nations said on Monday.
• The Afghan Taliban announced airstrikes on Pakistani territory late in the week, while Islamabad said its forces had captured and shot down four primitive drones in the resource-rich southern province of Baluchistan.
• Pakistan is nuclear-armed and its military capabilities are far superior to Afghanistan’s.
• However, the Afghan Taliban, which rules Afghanistan, is adept at guerrilla warfare and grew stronger by fighting US-led forces for decades, returning to power when Washington withdrew in 2021.
• Pakistan is an important non-NATO ally of Washington. Relations between Washington and Islamabad have improved since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
• Pakistan also mediated efforts to resolve the US-Israeli war with Iran.
• Washington considers the Afghan Taliban a terrorist group.
• Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants it accuses of planning an attack on Pakistan.
• The Afghan Taliban denies the accusations, says militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem and argues that Pakistan is shifting blame for its own security failures.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington. Editing by Rod Nickel)
