Foreign Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan on Thursday said the United States is constantly pressurising Pakistan in order to hide its own failures in Afghanistan.
“In order to cover up for its own defeat in Afghanistan, US is pressurising Pakistan,” the foreign minister told a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Faisal. “Relations with the US are important and we wish to continue talks with them,” he asserted.
Responding to a question regarding downward trend in Pak-US relations after 9/11, Dastgir said, “In 2011, a few incidents happened which dented our relations. First was the Raymond Davis incident, then the attack on World Trade Centre masterminded by Osama Bin Laden and then the Salala incident in which US forces martyred 24 Pakistani soldiers,” he said. “However, Pakistan has moved forward from these incidents through operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad and we have tried to explain it to our American partners repeatedly,” he added. “But the American mindset is still stuck in 2011,” he lamented.
Stating that the US has not changed its perception of Pakistan since 2011, the foreign minister said, “You can deduce it from their statements. Although, our American partners acknowledge the sacrifices of the Pakistani armed forces and the nation but they do not appreciate the operations,” he continued. “They haven’t acknowledged how much Pakistan has done to rid itself of the menace of terrorism,” he regretted. “Our American partners during their visits to Islamabad always stressed on action in North Waziristan and we took the action. People and the armed forces gave exemplary sacrifices to break the backbone of the terrorists,” he added.
On relations with India, Dastgir said, “We tried to improve relations with India but did not receive a positive response from them.” “When a new government is sworn in, it will decide on how to take forward relations with India depending on their mandate,” he added. “Pakistan has raised the issue of Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir on every forum,” he stressed.
Published in Daily Times, June 1st 2018.
