Pak PM, military chief meets to respond to Trump’s criticism of Afghan policy
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will meet with powerful Pakistani generals on Thursday to formulate a response to the new US policy on Afghanistan, which includes further pressure on Islamabad to do more to control militants.
President Donald Trump has punished Pakistan for harboring “agents of chaos” and providing safe havens for militant groups that wage an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul, saying Islamabad must quickly change course.
White House officials have gone further and threatened with aid cuts and military, as well as other measures to force Pakistan’s hand with nuclear weapons and end the 16-year war.
Abbasi has yet to respond to Trump’s remarks, but Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said Washington should not use Pakistan as a “scapegoat” for its failures in the longest war in the United States. Pakistan denies hosting militants.
As is often the case with Pakistan, the final decision on how to proceed with the rest with the military, which has ruled the country for almost half of its 70-year history. It shoots at key parts of Pakistan’s foreign policy, including ties with the United States, Afghanistan and the arch-enemy of India.
Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, who will attend Thursday’s National Security Council meeting, met a day earlier with US ambassador David Hale and said Islamabad wanted confidence and understanding rather than money. The US aid.
Pakistani officials are irritated by what they say is a lack of respect for Washington over the country’s sacrifices in the war against militancy and its successes against groups like Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or the Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistan estimates that there have been 70,000 casualties in militant attacks since joining the United States’ “war on terrorism” following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
“We feel that the US administration led by Mr. Trump has been totally unilateral, unfair to Pakistan and does not appreciate and acknowledge that Pakistan has been a key player … in the campaign against terrorism,” said Senator Mushahid Hussain, president of The Senate defense told Reuters on Thursday.
Pakistani officials have also been angered by Trump begging former rival India to play a more important role in rebuilding Afghanistan, warning that a greater role for India in Kabul could be a threat to regional peace.
Pakistan fears that New Delhi’s biggest influence in Afghanistan will leave it encased by India, its largest neighbor against which it has fought three wars since independence in 1947.
Analysts also warned that they would put more pressure on Pakistan’s risks so that Islamabad would go further into the arms of China, its northern neighbor, which invests nearly $ 60 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road initiative.
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a telephone call that the United States must value Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan and respect its security concerns, according to Chinese state media.
“Things have changed since September 11,” Hussain added.
“Today, the United States has decreased much more influence and influence in the region and we have much more strategic space and options in our foreign policy.”
The relationship between the two countries has suffered periods of extreme tension in recent years, especially after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and killed by the United States Special Forces in Pakistan in a 2011 raid.
