WASHINGTON: The United States has once again blamed Pakistan for providing safe hideouts to terrorists and claimed that through these hideouts, attacks on Afghanistan are carried out.
“There are still what we call safe havens that exist for terrorist groups to operate from and carry strikes out on Afghanistan,” the Spokesman for US State Department Mark Toner said while addressing a press briefing in Washington.
Mark Toner said that to work together with Afghanistan is beneficial for Pakistan and both should work together to fight and defeat terrorism.
“It’s in Pakistan’s interest to work with – constructively with Afghanistan to address those security concerns,” he said.
However, the spokesman appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to confront terrorism and terrorist organizations on its soil.
“We understand that Pakistan has made efforts to confront terrorism and terrorist organizations on its own soil,” Mark Toner said.
Meanwhile, the United States has dropped the “mother of all bombs” in eastern Afghanistan, killing 36 militants of Islamic State (IS).
In a statement, the Pentagon Spokesman Adam Stump said that the largest non-nuclear device was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province wherein IS tunnels were targeted.
The Pentagon Spokesman said that GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) weighing 9,797 kilograms had 11 tons of explosives.