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Groton Daily Independent
Monday, Dec. 04, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 148 ~ 19 of 43
services. Other satisfaction areas also showed signi cant improvements.
Jill Elder, admissions and nancial aid director, said underlying the big change was the decision to re-
focus on student success over education delivery. “It’s a student- rst model,” Elder said.
The spike in satisfaction is also a result of learning to tailor assistance to a diverse group of students. After opening the Student Success Center, the school saw a 4 percent increase in students returning for
the second semester and a 6 percent increase in students returning for the second year. Western Dakota Tech also found that the percentage of courses dropped by students fell by 5 percent.
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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com
Mattis seeks more cooperation with Pakistan on terror ght By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MUNIR AHMED, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with top Pakistani leaders Monday to seek common ground on the counterterrorism ght, amid Trump administration calls for Islamabad to more aggressively go after the insurgents moving back and forth across the border with Afghanistan.
In brief comments before their meeting began, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said his country is committed to the war on terror and shares the same common objectives as the U.S.
“Engagement is there,” he said, adding that they “need to move forward with (the) issues at hand.” Mattis did not speak while media were present.
Earlier, Mattis told reporters traveling with him that he wants to work with Pakistan to address the prob- lems, adding that the U.S. is committed to a pragmatic relationship that expands cooperation while also “reinforcing President Trump’s call for action against terrorist safe havens.”
“We have heard from Pakistan leaders that they do not support terrorism. So I expect to see that sort of action re ected in their policies,” Mattis said before his trip to Islamabad.
Mattis met with Abbasi and army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, as well as a number of senior Pakistani leaders and military of cials and U.S. Ambassador David Hale.
Asked if he was going to press the Pakistani leaders to take more action against the insurgents, Mattis said: “That’s not the way I deal with issues. I believe that we work hard on nding the common ground and then we work together.”
Mattis’ optimism, however, comes despite persistent U.S. assertions that Islamabad is still not doing enough to battle the Taliban and allied Haqqani network insurgents within its borders.
Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, militants in Pakistan have crossed the mountainous and ill- de ned border to wage attacks against U.S., Afghan and allied forces. They then would return to their safe havens in Pakistan, where they have had a long-standing relationship with the ISI, Islamabad’s intel- ligence agency.
In a blunt assessment early last week, Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said there have been no changes in Pakistan’s support for militant networks.
He said Pakistani leaders went to Kabul and met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
“They identi ed certain steps that they were going to take. We’ve not yet seen those steps play out,” Nicholson told reporters in a recent brie ng.
The U.S., he said, has been very direct about what it expects Pakistan to do in the ght against the Taliban.
“We’re hoping to see those changes,” he said. “We’re hoping to work together with the Pakistanis going forward to eliminate terrorists who are crossing” between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The White House, meanwhile, condemned Pakistan’s release late last month of a U.S.-wanted militant as a “step in the wrong direction” and warned that it could harm Islamabad’s relations with the U.S. and its reputation around the world.
In August, the United States said it would hold up $255 million in military assistance for Pakistan until it cracks down on extremists threatening Afghanistan.
Imtiaz Gul, an Islamabad security analyst, said U.S. of cials always come to Islamabad with their “own