US expects Pakistan to act on Pathankot attack, but no deadline

PATHANKOT : Blowing hot and cold, the US says it expects Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base and bring the perpetrators to justice, but could not force its pace.”The Pakistanis said they’re going to investigate, so we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation when it’s complete,” State Department Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.”But as for how long it’s going to take and the scope of it, I think you need to be talking to folks in Islamabad about that,” he said.Asked if the US had reached out to Pakistan after India named banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad and its chief Maulana Masood Azhar as being responsible for the Pathankot attack, Kirby said: “Of course, we’re talking to Pakistan about this”.But he gave no details of “the specifics of diplomatic discussions” and simply repeated “the Government of Pakistan itself has condemned this attack and made clear that they’re committed to investigate it.””So let’s let them do that and let’s see where the investigation goes. We obviously would like to see it investigated too, as completely and as thoroughly as possible, so that we can better understand what happened,” Kirby said.