The United States on Tuesday proposed a partnership between India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in conducting counter-terrorism operations, while stating that their security was closely connected, PTI reported. The US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said the alliance would benefit the region.

The US official supported the Afghan government’s allegations that Islamabad gave Pakistan-based militants a free-hand in continuing attacks on Afghanistan territory. Toner condemned Tuesday’s twin blasts that led to the death of at least 38 people near Kabul’s Parliament building and another deadly one in Kandahar.

“I think we have been very frank in telling Pakistan that it needs to not provide any safe haven to groups that will or are intent on carrying out attacks on Afghanistan,” said Toner. He acknowledged that while the Pakistani government had taken several measures to address the matter of militancy in its territory, the problem still persisted.

Stating that an attack near the Afghanistan Parliament was an attack on democracy, he said the international community, including Washington and members of the North Atlantic Treatly Alliance, would not allow Afghanistan to lose the development it had undergone. He said his country was focused on helping Afghanistan’s security forces increase their capabilities against militant operations.

Toner said the US had worked hard to foster the Afghan-led peace process. “I do not think we can say the mission’s accomplished. But, we are not going to encourage any kind of walking away from the situation there,” he said.