US working with Pakistan against terrorism, says Trump in India

President Donald Trump Monday said there are “signs of big progress” on working with Pakistan to crack down on terror groups operating from that country’s borders.

“My administration is working in a very positive way with Pakistan to crack down on the terrorists and militant groups that operate on the Pakistan border,” he said during his address at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad. “We are beginning to see signs of big progress.”

Trump’s comments came days after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) warned Pakistan that it faced the possibility of being put into the watchdog’s “black list” and face greater scrutiny of all transactions in its financial system if it fails to fully implement an action plan to counter terror financing by June.

The FATF said Islamabad has “largely addressed” only 14 of the 27 action items, with “varying levels of progress” on the rest of the plan. The watchdog has been repeatedly assessing Pakistan’s efforts to implement the action plan since the country was placed on the watchdog’s “grey list” in June 2018.

Trump said both the United States and India have been hurt by terrorism but are united in defending citizens from radical Islamic terrorism. He added that the ISIS caliphate has been “utterly destroyed”.

“The United States and India are also firmly united in our iron clad resolve to defend our citizens from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism,” he said. “Both of our countries have been hurt by the pain and turmoil of terrorism and that terrorism brings.”

“Both countries are united in defending citizens from threat of radical Islamic terrorism. Under my administration we unleashed full power of American military on bloodthirsty killers of ISIS. Today ISIS territorial caliphate is 100% destroyed. Monster Al Baghdadi is dead,” Trump said.

Trump hailed his administration’s strong border controls. “Every nation has the right to control and secure its borders,” he said. “The United States and India are committed to working together to stop terrorists and fight their ideology.”

In their talks in Delhi on Tuesday, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi are expected to focus on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues including trade and investment, defence and security and counter-terrorism.