State Department Spokesperson Ned Price reiterated President Joe Biden’s commitment to act “in a manner that preserves our interests” if “international terrorists reassemble in Afghanistan.”
Wednesday’s comment was made in response to a question raised during a press briefing regarding the rise of violence in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s inability to provide “safe havens” to terrorist organizations, such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and others.
Price stated that the Afghan Taliban had been “either unable or unwilling to live up to the pledges that they’ve made in several areas” and that the United States overarching objective was to prevent “terrorists and others from using Afghanistan as a launching pad for attacks on Pakistan.”
The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri by a US strike in August was also cited as evidence of the United States demonstrated capacity to act against terrorists.
Price stated that the United States appreciates its “bilateral relationship” with Pakistan and is committed to working with its partners in the area, particularly Pakistan.
In response to a question regarding the security cooperation between the two nations, the spokeswoman mentioned the grant support provided through the International Military Education and Training program, which offers professional military education.
The catalyst for U.S. response
The promise comes about a week after the IS claimed responsibility for an attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul.
Separately, on Wednesday, “We have seen information that IS-K has claimed credit for the attack.”
The attack targeted Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires in Kabul, Ubaid Nizamani, who remained unharmed, and seriously injured a guard who guarded the ambassador.
It follows the TTP’s statement last month that it was terminating its ceasefire arrangement with the Pakistani government.
Washington had earlier this month designated four TTP and South Asian Al Qaeda leaders as global terrorists and threatened to use all of its resources against all Afghanistan-based terrorist organizations.
In a previous statement, another US State Department official referred to the extremists operating in Afghanistan as a common adversary and stated that the United States and Pakistan “had a shared interest” in battling them.
According to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the IS-K is an offshoot of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) organization, which was founded by disaffected Al Qaeda members.
