Pakistan, Afghanistan must join hands to nab terrorists: US

WASHINGTON: The United States (US) has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to make joint and concerted efforts to nab the terrorists.
This has been stated by US State Department’s deputy spokesperson Marie Harf in Washington while reacting to reports of the arrest of five persons in Afghanistan reportedly involved in the terror attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, last month.
She said Islamabad and Kabul needed to work together to hold accountable those elements that plotted the terrorist attacks. She said: “How that happens, we’ll see. But certainly, we believe it’s important.”
Asked if the United States supported Pakistan’s demand for handing over TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah to Islamabad, Harf replied: “This is actually a topic that came up during the secretary’s meeting in Pakistan.”
The US official said the United States designated Fazlullah a global terrorist last week and would cooperate with Pakistan in bringing him and other terrorists to justice.“We want to see these kinds of people who have plotted and planned terrorist attacks brought to justice,” Marie Harf said.
Last week, Afghan security personnel arrested five individuals for their complicity in the Dec 16 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. More than a hundred students were killed and wounded in the assault claimed by the Pakistan Taliban.
Afghan officials said the detainees would be questioned in Afghanistan before they were extradited to Pakistan. The arrests were made after Pakistan provided information to the Afghan government.