Pakistan needs to deny safe haven to terrorists: US

Washington: The US has once again urged Pakistan to deny safe havens to terrorists, and said that Islamabad should not discriminate among terror groups in its territory. US State Department Director of Press Office, Elizabeth Trudeau, on Thursday said: "We have consistently raised our concerns to the highest level of the Pakistani government on the need to deny safe haven to extremists." "We have pressed the Pakistani government to follow up on their expressed commitment, their stated commitment, to not discriminate among terror groups regardless of their agenda or affiliation," she said in a daily press briefing. Trudeau's remarks come after an attack on the American University in Kabul, which Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said was organised and orchestrated from Pakistan. At least 12 people were killed in the attack that took place early Thursday in Kabul. Ghani had called Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif and demanded that action be taken against those behind the attack. Trudeau said the US has always encouraged Pakistani and Afghan government to work together "not only in the wake of this attack but to ensure that such attacks do not happen again". She insisted that the two neighbours needed to "increase their cooperation countering violent extremism writ large". According to Trudeau, Raheel Sharif has said that Pakistan "would not discriminate" against the terrorist groups on its soil but "this attack against the best and brightest of Afghanistan is a sign" that more efforts need to be taken to curb extremism.