Top American military official Michael Kurilla lauded Pakistan as a “phenomenal counter-terrorism partner” on Wednesday while addressing told a congressional hearing. The assertion also comes days after Pakistan was made the vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism panel by the United Nations Security Council — a decision that has left New Delhi fuming. The US Central Command Chief however stressed the need to have a relationship with both India and Islamabad and reiterated the role of the Pakistani military in countering the threat from Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

“Right now what we saw is the Taliban in going after ISIS-K. They hate each other. Pushed a lot of them into the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Through a phenomenal partnership with Pakistan…they have gone after ISIS-Khorasan, killing dozens of them. Through a relationship we have with them — providing intelligence — they have captured at least five ISIS-Khorasan high-value individuals. They extradited back Jafar, who was one of the key individuals behind the Abbey Gate bombing,” he said.

General Kurilla said Pakistan had seen over 1000 terrorist attacks in the ‘western area’ since the beginning of 2024 — killing thousands of security personnel and civilians.

“They’re in an active counterterrorism fight right now, and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world,” he added.

FBI chief Kash Patel had indicated earlier this week that the US had extradited a Pakistani terrorist from Canada for helping ISIS. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan has been accused of attempting to provide material support to the terror group and plotting a mass shooting at a Jewis center in New York. According to the FBI, Khan planned to travel to the city and carry out the attack on October 7last year — the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack against Israel — in support of ISIS. He was arrested by Canadian authorities in September before the attack could be executed.

Meanwhile the Baloch Liberation Front has accused the Pakistani military establishment of creating and promoting the narrative of ISIS-Khorasan ‘as a tool to delegitimize nationalist movements by using the name of the religion’. A report by The Baloch Post quoted group leader Allah Nazar Baloch as suggesting that the doctrinal foundation of ISIS-K was ‘a scripted narrative coordinated by Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations department — otherwise known as the military media branch. He alleged that the goal was to manipulate public opinion against national liberation movements by falsely accusing them of being proxy for foreign powers.

(With inputs from agencies)