WASHINGTON: The United States has said that it retains the ability to conduct its own operations against terrorism in the Pak-Afghan region and does not depend on the Taliban’s promises to keep terrorists out of Afghanistan.

US State Department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller made these comments while responding to a question about recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan from militant hideouts in Afghanistan.

Last week, terrorists attacked a military installation in Zhob, Balochistan, and killed nine soldiers. Soon after the attack, the military’s media wing, ISPR, issued a statement, expressing “serious concerns” on the presence of terrorist ‘safe havens’ in Afghanistan and asked Kabul not to allow militants to use their territory for carrying out attacks inside Pakistan.

The statement also reminded the interim Afghan government that the Doha agreement binds them to do so. The agreement, signed in Doha, Qatar, between the US and Afghan Taliban in February 2020, ultimately led to the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan on Aug 15, 2021.

Asked if Washington expects the Taliban rulers to abide by the commitments they made in Doha, Mr Miller said: “I will say that we will hold them to their commitments. But as we have said before, we retain the ability to conduct our own operations in the region to ensure that, regardless of any promises that the Taliban make and regardless of their relative ability or willingness to uphold them.”

The United States, he said, retains the right to protect American interests. Asked how confident he was that the Taliban would keep their promises, Mr Miller said: “I don’t want to express any amount of confidence or lack of confidence.”

Responding to a question about the Pakistani government’s plan to hold elections in early October, the US official said: “I will make clear that we support the peaceful upholding of fundamental democratic principles such as free media, free speech, freedom of assembly.” The United States, he said, champions the rule of law, not just in Pakistan but around the world. “These principles are the foundations for democratic elections. I have spoken to this both with respect to Pakistan specifically and of course as it relates to other countries on numerous occasions,” Mr Miller added.

Responding to another question about an attack on a 150-year-old temple in Karachi, he said: “We support the free exercise of religion anywhere in the world and oppose any attempts or uses of violence to suppress that right of people to exercise their freedom of religion.”

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2023