Pak offered safe haven to Taliban as militants killed US troops: Senator Robert Menendez | World News

A Democrat senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez on Tuesday said Islamabad offered a safe haven to the Taliban as its militants targeted and killed troops of the United States. 

Welcoming the nomination of Donald Armin Blome as US Ambassador to Pakistan, the senator called for a serious conversation with the Imran Khan government on the path forward in bilateral relations.

“Islamabad offered a safe haven to the Taliban even as its militants targeted and killed US troops. We need to have a serious conversation with the Pakistani Government in our path forward,” Menendez was quoted as saying news agency ANI.

The senator, who is chairing a hearing of US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on ambassadorial nominations to Pakistan, India and Germany, further said, “As I told this committee last month, the failure of our mission in Afghanistan was due, in a small part, to years of Pakistani double-dealing.”

“We welcome your (Blome as US Ambassador to Pakistan) nomination at this particularly challenging moment in US-Pakistan bilateral relationship,” he added.

Speaking about the nomination of Eric Garcetti as US Ambassador to India, Menendez said, “ As a member of Quad, alongside US-Japan-Australia, India is playing a greater role in helping maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. In September, the Joe Biden administration hosted the first–ever in-person Quad Summit.”