In an annual report released on Wednesday, the US State Department said Pakistan continued to serve as a “safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups.”

“It allowed groups targeting Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban and affiliated HQN (Haqqani network), as well as groups targeting India, including LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and its affiliated front organizations, and JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed), to operate from its territory,” it said.

Pakistan took "modest steps" in 2019 to counter terror financing and to restrain some India-focused militant groups following the February attack on a security convoy in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based JeM, the report said.

The report also stated that Islamabad has "yet to take decisive actions" against Indian- and Afghanistan-focused militants that would undermine their operational capability.

However, the report noted that the Pakistani government also played a "constructive role" in US-Taliban talks in 2019, according to the report.

In this program host Karim Amini discusses the topic with the following guests:

Nazir Ahmadzai, former parliament member

Najibullah Paikan, political analyst