WASHINGTON: The United States (US) hopes that Pakistan would be able to bring the Taliban to negotiations table for a genuine peace process with the Afghan Government by spring, the White House has said.

The Trump administration in the first 100 days of the South Asia Strategy saw no indication of the steps against terrorist safe haven by Islamabad.

“By spring, we would hope to see some real efforts on genuine peace process. This administration is not interested in talks for talks sake. We would like to see a genuine peace dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official noted the Taliban has made gains for the last several years. “So, until they are convinced that they are not going to have sanctuary in Pakistan, we don't believe they'll be ready for talks.

They will continue to believe that they can advance on the battlefield rather than on the negotiating table,” the official said.

“So, we need to see Pakistan ensure that they don't have a sanctuary within Pakistan. And only at that time we assess that they'll really be ready for genuine negotiations with the Afghan Government,” the official said. The official, however, refused to give a time line for actions on Pakistan.

“I going to give a specific date. I do not think that would be helpful. But I just want to assure you that we are thinking in terms of timelines and we are monitoring the progress and we do expect meaningful actions in a certain timeframe and we are prepared to implement new policies and take different steps if we don't see some progress,” the White House official said.

As part of the new South Asia Strategy, the Trump Administration has been very specific with Pakistan on the steps that it needs to take. “We have laid out very specific steps that they need to take to degrade these groups activities and to facilitate a genuine dialogue. But, I don't think we have seen any significant steps in that direction,” the official said.

“So, we're still waiting and watching and monitoring (Pakistan) very closely. And we're still hopeful that we will see Pakistan take some of those steps to crack down on the Taliban, Haqqani network, and ensure that there are no safe havens, for these groups to continue operating inside Pakistan,” the official said.

The United States would be looking for very specific action from Pakistan within coming weeks and months. “We would hope to see some changes in their behavior,” the official said.

Responding to a series of questions on the 100 days of South Asia Strategy, the official said that it has made some progress but this needs to be given some time to take root.

“The ultimate goal is a negotiated peace settlement. So we continue to try to encourage peace process between the Afghan government and Taliban. We're not going to negotiate a separate peace with the Taliban. We want to see the Afghan government and the Taliban in negotiations,” the official said adding that the US of course will be supportive of those negotiations. But it must be Afghan-owned, Afghan-initiated, the official insisted.

The United States, the official said is ready to facilitate a better relationship between Kabul and Islamabad. “We saw the October 1st meeting between General Bajwa and President Ghani in Kabul as positive step in the right direction. We need to see that momentum continue. We stand ready to take steps that could lead to better border cooperation, better trade and transit cooperation, reducing the violence and ealing with the refugee situation,” the official said.

As part of the comprehensive strategy announced by Trump on August 21, the Administration has focused on reinvigorating regional diplomacy.

It has held the Quadrilateral Coordination Group meeting at the Assistant Secretary level and is looking forward to participating in the Afghan-owned and Afghan-initiated Kabul peace conference which will take place in January. Another major part of the strategy is the compact for reform which announced on August 22, the day after Trump announced the South Asia strategy.

This is aimed at upholding the Afghan government to account on reform in the security sector, governance reform, economic reform and growth and then also seeing progress on peace and reconciliation. That means ensuring that the government is organized in such a way that it could support a comprehensive peace process if it were to be launched, the official said.