WASHINGTON: Adviser on Finance Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan willnot compromise on its security interests even if the United States (US)cancels all its aid to the country.
In an interview to *The Financial Times*, he also criticised US PresidentDonald Trump’s Jan 1 tweet in which he vowed to change the nature ofAmerica’s relationship with Pakistan, which he claimed was based on“nothing but lies and deceit”.
“Some guy wakes up early in the morning and tweets; I don’t know what the …he tweets,” Mr Ismail said.
Three days after Mr Trump’s New Year morning tweet, the Trumpadministration suspending security assistance to Pakistan and askedIslamabad to prove its commitment to fighting all terrorist groupsoperating in the region if it wants the aid to be restored.
Mr Ismail, however, said such pressures cannot force Islamabad to abandonits security interests. Islamabad fears that the United States is purposelygiving India a larger role in Afghanistan, enabling it to use the Afghanterritory for stirring troubles in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials claim that India has helped TTP set up camps insideAfghanistan, which they now use for launching attacks into Pakistan.
“We are the sixth or seventh-largest country in the world and have theseventh-largest standing army in the world,” Mr Ismail told *FinancialTimes*. “We’re not going to compromise on our security interest, on ournational interest, based on a few hundred million dollars, I promise youthat.”
Mr Ismail also claimed that Washington was teaming up with New Delhi,saying: “I think that America and India probably together were just focusedon embarrassing Pakistan”.
Despite this, the United States and Pakistan have stayed engaged. SinceJanuary, several senior US civil and military officials have visitedIslamabad for consultations on President Trump’s South Asia strategy, whichseeks to defeat Taliban, both politically and militarily. Earlier thismonth, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Foreign Secretary TehminaJanjua also visited Washington to share their views with US officials.
Last week, Washington sent yet another envoy, Ambassador Alice Wells, toIslamabad who told Pakistani officials that the United States wants to stayengaged with all levels of the Pakistani government for talks oneliminating terrorism from the region.
But a Pakistani official said this weekend that both sides were stilllooking for a ‘common ground’ to make these talks more useful.
Mohammad Faisal, a spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs told theUS-backed Radio Free Europe that “the main purpose of these talks” was to“find that common ground”.