The country\u2019s foreign minister Khawaja Asif said Washington should not use Pakistan as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d for its failures in America\u2019s longest running war.<\/p>\n
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will meet with powerful Pakistani generals on Thursday to formulate a response to the new US policy on Afghanistan that includes greater pressure on Islamabad to do more to rein in militants.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has chastised Pakistan for harbouring \u201cagents of chaos\u201d and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul, saying Islamabad must promptly change tack.<\/p>\n
White House officials have gone further and threatened aid and military cuts, as well as other measures to force nuclear-armed Pakistan\u2019s hand and bring about an end to the 16-year-war.<\/p>\n
Abbasi has not responded yet to Trump\u2019s remarks but foreign minister Khawaja Asif said Washington should not use Pakistan as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d for its failures in America\u2019s longest running war. Pakistan denies harbouring militants.<\/p>\n
As is often the case with Pakistan, the final decision about how to proceed rests with the military, which has ruled the country for nearly half its 70-year history. It calls the shots on key parts of Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy, including ties with the United States, Afghanistan and arch-foe India.<\/p>\n
Army chief general Qamar Javed Bajwa, who will be part of the National Security Council meeting on Thursday, a day earlier met with US Ambassador David Hale and said Islamabad wanted trust and understanding rather than US aid money.<\/p>\n
Pakistani officials bristle at what they say is a lack of respect by Washington for the country\u2019s sacrifices in the war against militancy and its successes against groups like al Qaeda, Islamic State or the Pakistani Taliban.<\/p>\n
Pakistan estimates there have been 70,000 casualties in militant attacks since it joined the US \u201cwar on terrorism\u201d after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel the American administration led by Mr Trump has been totally one sided, unfair to Pakistan and does not appreciate and recognise Pakistan has been a pivotal player…in the campaign against terrorism,\u201d Senator Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the senate defence committee, told Reuters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Pakistani officials have also been angered by Trump imploring old rival India to play a greater role in reconstructing Afghanistan, warning a greater Indian role in Kabul could be a threat to regional peace.<\/p>\n
Pakistan fears New Delhi\u2019s greater influence in Afghanistan would leave it sandwiched by India, its bigger neighbour against whom it has fought three wars since independence in 1947.<\/p>\n
Analysts have also warned putting greater pressure on Pakistan risks driving Islamabad deeper into the arms of China, its northern neighbour which is investing nearly $60 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road initiative.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, told US secretary of state Rex Tillerson in a phone call the United States must value Pakistan\u2019s role in Afghanistan and respect its security concerns, according to Chinese state media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings have changed since 9\/11,\u201d added Hussain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US today has far more diminished clout and leverage in the region and we have far more strategic space and options in our foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The country\u2019s foreign minister Khawaja Asif said Washington should not use Pakistan as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d for its failures in America\u2019s longest running war. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will meet with powerful Pakistani generals on Thursday to formulate a response to the new US policy on Afghanistan that includes greater pressure on Islamabad to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2853,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions\/2853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}