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ISLAMABAD: Paul Kapur, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, said this week he would pursue security cooperation with Pakistan “where beneficial to US interests.”

Kapur was speaking during a confirmation hearing before the US Senate on Tuesday.

“On Pakistan, if confirmed, I will pursue security cooperation where beneficial to US interests, while seeking opportunities for bilateral collaboration in trade and investment,” Kapur said in his testimony. 

“South Asia recently avoided a costly conflict, with the [US] Vice President and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio intensely engaged on the issue. If confirmed, I will continue to promote longstanding US security interests with India and Pakistan through the pursuit of peace and stability, and the fight against terrorism.”

Kapur is, as of 2025, a professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School. He is a visiting faculty member at the Hoover Institution and has taught at Claremont McKenna College. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University.

In 2025, Kapur was nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs by the second Trump administration, succeeding Donald Lu.

Pakistani observers are carefully watching Kapur’s appointment as he wrote in his book ‘Jihad as Grand Strategy’ that jihad was a major part of Pakistan’s grand strategy, and not just a “political instrument” it used. He has claimed that the utilization of jihad by Pakistan is an intentional government strategy.

KARACHI: The head of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Kurilla, this week praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner” in counterterrorism efforts, citing continued operations against militant groups and active intelligence-sharing between the two countries.

Pakistan and the United States have a long, if at times turbulent, history of counterterrorism cooperation dating back to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Islamabad was a key partner during the US-led war in Afghanistan, and over the years has captured and handed over numerous Al-Qaeda operatives to US authorities.

In a more recent high-profile case, Pakistani officials last year arrested and extradited a Daesh militant accused of planning the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, which killed 13 American service members and more than 160 Afghan civilians during the US military withdrawal.

“They’re in an active counter-terrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counter-terrorism world,” Kurilla said during a testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday.

Kurilla pointed to recent Pakistani operations targeting Daesh (ISIS-Khorasan), particularly in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

“Through a phenomenal partnership with Pakistan, they have gone after Daesh Khorasan (Daesh) killing dozens of them through a relationship we have with them providing intelligence. They have captured at least five Daesh Khorasan (Daesh) high value individuals,” he said.

“So, we are seeing Pakistan with limited intelligence that provided them go after them using their means to do that and we’re seeing an effect on Daesh (Daesh).”

Kurtis added that both Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban were conducting parallel operations against Daesh along the border.

Kurilla also noted the close personal coordination between military leaders, recalling that Pakistan’s army chief had informed him directly of a major capture.

“Field Marshal Asim Munir called me to tell me they had captured one of the Daesh-K individuals,” he said.

While Pak-Us relations have often been strained by mutual mistrust — particularly over drone strikes, militant sanctuaries, and geopolitical alignment — security cooperation between the two militaries has persisted, especially in the intelligence domain.

Pakistan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to counterterrorism cooperation during a bilateral dialogue held in Washington in May. The talks focused on threats from groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Daesh, both of which remain active in the region.

Another round of counterterrorism talks is scheduled to take place later this month between Islamabad and Washington as part of broader efforts to rebuild ties and coordinate on shared security priorities.

US officials have increasingly acknowledged Pakistan’s role in containing regional terrorist threats, even as Islamabad faces internal challenges from a resurgent TTP and growing political and economic instability.