In a joint statement, the United States and Pakistan, which is home to a number of terrorists and terror organizations, reiterated their “shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations” during a counterterrorism dialogue.
The United States “applauded Pakistan’s continued successes in containing terrorist entities that pose a threat to the peace and security of the region and the world” during the Tuesday dialogue in Islamabad, according to the statement.
Three terrorist groups—the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), ISIS-Khorasan, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)—were named in the statement, but at least five others and their affiliates that are listed by the US government as terrorist organizations with headquarters in Pakistan were left out.
The head of al-Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Osama bin Laden, was taken out by US Navy Seals in a 2011 raid after being granted sanctuary by Pakistan.
The conversation was co-chaired by Pakistan’s special secretary to the UN, Nabeel Munir, and Gregory LoGerfo, the US State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
They “discussed ways to enhance cooperation to counter terrorist threats, and I think that is good for the region and for the world,” according to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in Washington.
In order to combat terrorism and advance peace and stability, “both sides emphasized that sustained and structured engagement remains vital,” the statement read.
The conversation, which has taken place yearly since at least 2023, when Democrat Joe Biden was president, is not the product of the recent amity between US President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s military establishment.
The two “delegations underscored the critical importance of developing effective approaches to terrorist threats, including those posed by” the three terrorist organizations it named, according to the statement.
The BLA and its affiliate, the Mujaheed Brigade (TMB), were added to the US’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations on the eve of the discussion. The BLA and its leaders are subject to US sanctions.
The statement stated that the United States “expressed condolences for the loss of civilians and members of law enforcement agencies in terrorist incidents in Pakistan, including the bombing of a school bus in Khuzdar and the barbaric Jaffar Express terrorist attack.”
The BLA took credit for the April kidnapping of the Jafar Express train, which carried more than 300 passengers and resulted in the deaths of 31 security guards and bystanders.
The BLA has been held accountable by the Pakistani government for the May suicide bombing of a school bus in Khuszdur.
There were ten persons murdered, including at least eight students.
In the statement, the United States and Pakistan emphasized cooperation in international organizations such as the United Nations, where Pakistan is currently an elected member of the Security Council, and “building stronger institutional frameworks and developing capabilities to respond to security challenges and to counter the use of emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.”
These organizations—Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaysh al-Adl/Jundallah, Lashkar i Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harakat ul-Mujahidin, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba—as well as four affiliates, including The Resistance Front, which carried out the Pahalgam massacre in April and was added to the list last month—are not mentioned in the joint statement of the US-Pakistan Counterterrorism Dialogue.
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