US trying to blame Pakistan for its failures in Afghanistan: Foreign office

ISLAMABAD - The Foreign Office on Thursday stated that the US was blaming Pakistan for its own failures in war-torn Afghanistan adding that it could not scapegoat Pakistan for this debacle.

In a weekly briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria dismissed the remarks made by a top US military official regarding Pakistan’s contributions to the war against terrorism.

The official also rubbished the allegations by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford who insinuated that the Pakistan's top spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence had links with terrorist groups.

Pakistani forces took indiscriminate action against terrorists’ hideouts on its soil and cleared the areas of militants, the spokesman said.

The former US Secretary of State’s statement on Pakistan’s policy regarding terrorism was on record, he added.

Zakaria continued that the issue of human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir was being taken up by the Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif who was currently in US.

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Earlier, on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Pakistan is critical for the long-term stability of South Asia.

"We want Pakistan's government to be stable, peaceful...many of the same issues they are struggling inside Pakistan are our issues. So we think there is an opportunity to strengthen that relationship," he said.

Pakistan's relation with the US is "extraordinarily important", he added.