No more punches for Pakistan as Trump's key deputy in Islamabad today?

NEW DELHI: A day after a top Donald Trump hit Pakistan, again, for not bringing the Taliban within its borders, she is traveling today. in Islamabad for crucial discussions, and perhaps more elbows.

"Pakistan has an important role to play … but we have not yet seen this sustained and decisive action on the part of Islamabad," said Alice Wells, Trump's assistant assistant for the Office of South and Central Asia. Business, to reporters in Kabul, AP reported.

Wells said that since the Afghan government and the United States are ready to begin speaking without preconditions, it is now up to the Taliban to respond. And the Taliban in neighboring Pakistan is a big problem.

"Right now, it is the Taliban leaders … who do not reside in Afghanistan, who are the obstacle to a negotiated political settlement," said Wells, according to AFP.

Wells will hold crucial talks this week in Islamabad – his third visit to Pakistan this year – to explore the possibility of resuming the Afghan reconciliation process. She expects to meet senior officials from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry as well as military authorities, reported The Express Tribune of Pakistan.

The Trump administration has exerted tremendous pressure on Pakistan – by castigating it royally in public and withholding up to $ 200 million dollars – to do more in the fight against terrorism.

Just last week, a global terrorist financing watchdog compiled a grotesque, uncomfortable list not to do enough to cut the throes of terrorist organizations and terrorists wandering freely around the country. and spread hatred and disagreement. attacks on neighbors including India and Pakistan.

But Islamabad has its own reservations – including the threat posed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan – or the Pakistani Taliban – and its affiliates operating from Afghanistan. According to the Tribune, the elimination of the terrorist Mullah Fazlullah seems "to suggest a new agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States," no matter what that means.

Last month, the Pakistani Taliban leader was killed by a drone strike, not in Pakistan, but in the remote province of Kunar, Afghanistan. He has been on the list of the most wanted people in Pakistan for years and was the man behind the shooting at the head of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Pakistan is optimistic about this week's meeting with Wells despite tensions with the United States.

"The Pak-US relationship is on an upward trajectory and negotiations are ongoing between the two sides as we seek to find common ground in the bilateral relationship," said a spokesman for the ministry. Foreign Affairs. Islamabad, reported the Tribune.