WH favours nurturing ties with Pak in national interest

The White House has pushed for nurturing ties with Pakistan, amid reports of strain in ties between the two countries after the State Department asked Islamabad to muster its "national resources" for purchase of eight F-16 fighter jets.
"The US has an important counterterrorism and national security relationship with Pakistan. We value the kind of cooperation that we get with Pakistan and we have found that cooperation beneficial to the national security of both our countries," the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
"President Obama has obviously worked hard, even in some challenging circumstances, to cultivate an effective working relationship with Pakistan," he said.

"We believe that preserving that relationship and nurturing that relationship is beneficial to the national security of the US, but also the national security of Pakistan," Earnest said when asked about the impact on bilateral ties of the State Department's decision to ask Islamabad to make full payment for purchase of F-16 fighter jets.
Early this week, the State Department said it has asked Pakistan to use its national resources to buy eight F-16 fighter jets from the it as a full price.
Because of the Congressional hold, the State Department said it would not be able to provide a subsidy of USD 430 million towards the USD 700 million cost of these fighter jets.

Pakistan has said it does not have the resources to buy the F-16 at full price and has indicated that it will turn over the China to meet the need of its air force.

Verma said the Internet and social media offer ISIL
potent marketing tools to reach followers around the world, raise illicit sources of funding, and to disseminate the techniques and know-how to carry out heinous attacks.
He said in an interconnected world, it only takes the push of a button for ISIL and other terrorist groups to reach a global audience. These digital technologies have been a key component of ISIL's drive to recruit foreign fighters, 40,000 of whom have poured into Syria over the last four years.

"That's almost twice as many as we saw travel to Afghanistan in the 1980s. ISIL has also used digital technologies to encourage self-radicalised or lone-wolf extremists to conduct heinous attacks near where they are located," he said.
The Ambassador said the recent attacks in the United States, France, Bangladesh, and elsewhere highlight the gravity of this threat.
"Terrorists are no longer simply building bombs and hatching plots in secret; they now post instruction manuals online and urge individuals to commit violence on their own accord," he said.
Verma said although only a small percentage of susceptible individuals have been influenced by terrorists online, that number is still too large.

"We must better understand how extremist messages and propaganda gain currency, particularly among disaffected and alienated young people.
(Reopens DEL58)
The US Ambassador said Indians and Americans are no
strangers to terrorism as from the streets of New York and Mumbai to the steps of the Pentagon and India's Parliament, citizens of both the countries have been the target of terrorists and this global menace was responded with strength and resolve.
"And what's more clear than ever before is the importance of the United States and India working together to counter terror," a press relese issued by the US Embassy here quoted him as saying.

Verma said security personnel of India and the US continue to train together and exchange best practices through workshops like this one.
"In fact, the State Department Anti-Terrorism Assistance program has trained more than 2,500 Indian security personnel during the past two decades. Two weeks ago, I inaugurated a new ATA course at the Central Detective Training School in Uttar Pradesh," he said.