Washington: The United States on Wednesday reiterated its support to Pakistan in its fight against terrorism.
“Today, we reaffirm our commitment to enhance our capabilities against threats to Pakistan, particularly terrorism,” US State Department Deputy Press Secretary Vedant Patel said at a press conference in Washington.
Responding to a question about the recent security talks between Islamabad and Washington, the spokesman said that the two countries have been working on anti-IED investigations by terrorist groups, technical assistance on the country’s western border, etc. He said they agreed to prevent and prevent cooperation in such fields.
His remarks came in the face of a wave of terror attacks in Pakistan in recent months targeting civilians, law enforcement and security forces in various parts of the country.
Pakistan again raised the concerns of the Afghan Taliban government about the use of Afghan soil by various militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Patel’s comments came in response to a high-level meeting between the two countries in Washington earlier this week, where the fight against terrorism in the region was discussed.
The meeting was chaired by UN Additional Secretary of State and OIC Ambassador Syed Haidar Shah and US State Department Counter-Terrorism Ambassador Elizabeth Richard.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO), during the standoff, the two countries recognized that cooperation to combat the IDF-Khorasan, TTP, also known as Daesh, and other terrorist organizations will improve and serve security in the region. as a model of bilateral and regional cooperation to combat the threat of transnational terrorists.
At least 92% of deaths and 86% of attacks in Pakistan can be attributed to terrorism in the first quarter of 2024, according to a report released by the Center for Research and Security (CRSS) in April this year. and security forces operations were recorded in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan in the first quarter of 2024.
The report said at least 432 violence-related deaths and 370 injuries among civilians, security personnel and illegal operations were caused by some 245 terrorist attacks and counter-terrorism operations.
Among the 432 dead, 281 were civilians and members of the security forces.
Only the provinces of KP and Balochistan respectively accounted for 51% and 41% of the number of deaths in Q1 2024. The data shows that the rest of the region is relatively quiet, suffering less than 8% of the deaths.
