WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has issued a severe indictment of Pakistan in its first public assessment of the region, blaming Islamabad for deteriorating relations with India and warning that Pakistan's “pursuit of tactical nuclear weapons potentially lowers the threshold for their use.”
In a testimony, Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats told US lawmakers that Islamabad's continued support to militants and New Delhi's growing intolerance of the policy has initiated deterioration of bilateral relations in 2016. Coats warned, “They might deteriorate further in 2017, especially in the event of another high-profile terrorist attack in India that New Delhi attributes to originating in or receiving assistance from Pakistan.” He added that easing of the heightened Indo-Pakistani tension, including negotiations to renew official dialogue, will probably hinge “on a sharp and sustained reduction of cross-border attacks by terrorist groups based in Pakistan and progress in the Pathankot investigation” which Pak has been long stalling.
The US Treasury Department, a few hours before the testimony, announced follow-up sanctions against several Pakistan-based individuals and entities, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front for charitable activities, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, as part of its counter-terrorism measures. “The United States continues to aggressively target extremists in Pakistan and the surrounding region, including charities and other front groups used as vehicles to facilitate illicit terrorist activities. The three individuals and entity we designated today have connections with terrorist groups that are a direct threat to the security of both the United States and Pakistan,” John Smith, Director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said.
Meanwhile, Coats said terror groups from the country will continue a pose a “sustained threat” to US, India and Afghanistan. “The threat to US and the West from Pakistani-based terrorist groups will be persistent but diffuse. Plotting against US homeland will be conducted on a more opportunistic basis or driven by individual members within these groups,” he added. “Pakistan will likely turn to China to offset its isolation, empowering a relationship that will help Beijing to project influence into the Indian Ocean.”
