US wants Pakistan to take action against all militant activities on its soil, will retain long term

Addu City (Maldives), Nov. 10 (ANI): US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs Robert Blake on Thursday sent out a clear message to Pakistan to address all terrorist activities perpetrating on its soil and to bring back peace in the south Asian region and the entire world.

Responding to a question that Pakistan has not even recognised Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) accused for masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as a terrorist organistaion, Blake said: "United States has been very clear that there should be progress on all of the terrorist groups that are based in Pakistan including Lashkar-e-Taiba, as you said and that is because not only have those forces attacked some of our troops in Afghanistan but also because increasingly one sees some common activities between the groups. And so, it is important that Pakistan addresses all of the terrorist activities on its soil and that is our clear and consistent message," said Blake.

Stating that both India and Pakistan have made a very good progress particularly on the economic side, Blake also welcomed the granting of MFN status by Islamabad to New Delhi.

"There are really very welcome progress over the last year particularly on the economic sides most recently by Pakistan granting MFN status decision in principle to do that which we very much welcome. We think that if India and Pakistan can agree to establish greater trade that will have great benefit not only for those two countries but will be good for the entire region, not only in the SAARC region but also in central Asia which wants to see more Indian trade and more Indian investment," he said.

To a poser on India's role once the US troops are pulled out of Afghanistan, Blake said: "I don't want to suggest that United States is pulling completely out of Afghanistan. The United States will maintain a very strong long term commitment to the security and prosperity of Afghanistan well after the 2014 transition but we see that India will have an extremely important role to play in that security and prosperity. (ANI)