TAWDE KHABARE: CIA Chiefs Remarks Discussed
The United States will do everything it can to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan, but Pakistan must first deny the militants a safe haven on its soil, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Thursday.
Pompeo said for talks to move ahead, the Taliban must have no hope of winning on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and that means making it no longer possible to cross the Afghan-Pakistan border and hide in Pakistan, the Associated Press reported.
The CIA director said in a speech at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, that if history is to be a guide, then very low expectations should be set for Pakistan's willingness to cooperate with the US in fighting "radical Islamic terrorism."
US officials have long accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye or helping the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. Pakistan has repeatedly denied ties with the militant groups.
In this episode of Tawde Khabare host Zabi Sadat discusses the topic with the following guests:
Gen. Tahir Yarghal, military expert
Jawed Ghafoor, from the Deputy Directorate for Media and Strategic Relations at the Presidential Office
Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, a political analyst
Khalid Pashton, an MP