'Pak's double game on tackling terror outfits on its soil bodes ill for ties with US'

Washington, Apr 19(ANI): The recent attacks in Afghanistan signals a connection to terrorist groups who have benefited from the shelter that has been provided to them by Pakistan, according to Lisa Curtis, a South Asia senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

The weekend's synchronized insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, which US officials claim are like of those of a Pakistan-based militant organization that has for decades thrived under the protective wing of the Pakistani intelligence services, have raised new warning flags about Pakistan.

Curtis believes these attacks have carved open the continuing disparities between Pakistan and the US.

"The attacks [in Afghanistan] show signs of involvement by groups benefiting from sanctuary in Pakistan, so certainly this is just another reminder of Pakistan's lack of action on its side of the border," The Christian Science Monitor quoted Curtis, as saying.

"At the same time, this can't help but highlight the ongoing disagreements between the US and Pakistan," she added.

US officials say both privately, and to a lesser degree publicly, that they believe the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, long considered mainly a border contraband-smuggling mafia, was behind the weekend attacks in Kabul and three other Afghan cities

Curtis believes the US would refrain from directly blaming Pakistan for the Afghanistan attacks, as it's top most priority is to get functional relations with Pakistan back on track, so that they could get NATO supply routes reopened.

"We're unlikely to see any direct blaming of Pakistan [for attacks in Afghanistan] because the US is most interested in getting the supply routes back open. The priority right now is to get relations back on a functional level," Curtis said. (ANI)