US asks Pakistan, Afghanistan to cooperate for tackling extremism

State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau, in a press briefing, said that it will be premature to state anything regarding the attack on the American University in Kabul however it will be encouraging if Pakistan and Afghanistan work together in order to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future.

At least 12 people, including seven students, were killed in an attack on the American University in Kabul on Thursday. The assault ended when two gunmen were shot dead by the government forces.

She said that Pakistan’s leadership has expressed its concern over increasing extremism and has stressed on the need of not providing safe havens to terrorists.

The spokesperson said the Pakistani government should not discriminate between terrorist groups. She went on to say that Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had said that no discrimination will be made between the terror outfits and stressed the need of taking more steps to tackle extremism.

The United States had earlier invited Taliban insurgents to join the Afghan process after surrendering their arms.