In a phone call with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin elaborately disc꧅ussed the prevalent situation in💃 Afghanistan, regional security issues and the bilateral defence ties, the Pentagon said.
According to the Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, Austin 🦋expressed his interest in further improvisation of the US-Pakistan bilateral🔯 relationship and strengthening of multiple shared interests in the region, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a readout of the conversation.
“Secretary Austin and General Ba💝jwa discussed the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, regional sec𒐪urity and stability, and the bilateral defence relationship more broadly,” Kirby said.
Austin discussed the mutual goals of security and stability in the region, he saꦗid.
Taliban's🌼 surge in Afghanistan has intensified as US and NATO tro💜ops wrap up their withdrawal from the war-torn country.
With Taliban attacks increasing, Afghan security forces and government tro๊ops have retaliated with airstrikes aided by t♑he United States.
Afghanistan and the US have criticised Pakistan in the past for allowing Taliban fighters to cross into Pakistan where they are provided safe havens and also receive medical treatment. Nearly 2 million Afghan refugees also live in Pakistan, having fled decades of war in thꦦeir 🅘homeland.
Pakistan has said that it has used its influence over the Taliban to press the insurgents into talks with the US and the Afghan 🅠government to find a political solution to the crisis in the neighbouring country.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan last month said that the US “really messed it up” in Afghanistan as he questioned the American m🅺otive for the 2001 invasion of the country in the first place and then their subsequent attempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from aꦰ position of weakness.
(With PTI Inputs)
