Go after terrorists mainly Taliban: US to Pakistan
May 28, 2016  15:40
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The United States has asked Pakistan to go after terrorists especially the Taliban leadership, days after an American drone killed Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in the country's troubled Balochistan province.

"We continue to cooperate closely with Afghanistan, but also urge Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially Taliban leadership, and that cooperation continues," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Meanwhile, a former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, James B Cunningham, said the drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour inside Pakistan should send a signal that the United States will not tolerate terrorist safe havens.

"I hope that this is the beginning of a message that we will not tolerate any more the strategic challenge that is posed by the leadership of the Taliban being in Pakistan and having a safe haven there. I hope that this is the beginning of a new phase in the effort to bring the Taliban into a= political discussion," he told the Atlantic Council.

"It is rumoured that senior parts of the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) may have been involved in setting Mansour up. The official account is that we informed Pakistan of the strike after it took place. In places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, conspiracy rumours will circulate for some time," he said.
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