US warns Pakistan to ‘meet expectations’ to maintain current ‘level of assistance’

April 23rd, 2011 - 12:20 pm ICT by ANI  

Taliban Washington, April 23(ANI): Pakistan must meet expectations on counter-terrorism cooperation, abidance to human rights standards and its economic reforms in order to maintain the ‘level of assistance’ it has been receiving from the United States, Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Michele Flournoy, has said.

“One of the things the Pakistanis have experienced themselves is that, you know, for Congress to support the level of assistance that we provide to them- both civilian and military- certain expectations have to be met, whether it’s cooperation in counter-terrorism, whether it’s abiding by human rights standards, whether it’s dealing with the IMF to make economic reforms,” The Nation quoted Flournoy, as telling the ‘Charlie Rose show’ on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

“There are things that I think under gird the ability of the international community to support them. And so we are very open in our dialogue with them, we’re being very clear about the kinds of things that are necessary for us to be able to continue our support,” she added.

Flournoy said that Pakistan needs to continue and improve cooperation on counter-terrorism.

“I also think in other areas beyond the range of the Defence Department, where I sit. In the economic domain, there are a number of economic reforms we’d like to see them make to be able to be - have our economic assistance be more effective as well,” she added.

The Pentagon official also said that the US was trying to convince Pakistan that they too have a stake in a stable Afghanistan, in a stable region and in reasserting governance over their own territory.

She also pointed out that Pakistan must change its concept of ‘good Taliban, bad Taliban’, adding that the US was trying to “work with them to shift that perspective”.

“We view Al-Qaeda, Haqqani [network], Taliban, these are all part of a syndicate of groups that help each other. The Pakistanis tend to make finer distinctions between them - you know, not being tolerated - tolerant to some, like Al-Qaeda, but otherwise tolerating others. We are trying to work with them to shift that perspective and shift that calculus,” said Flournoy. (ANI)

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