*ISLAMABAD - F*ormer US ambassador in Islamabad Richard Olson has said that Pakistan has an opportunity to reset ties with Washington.
He has said that there has been a divergence in Pakistan-US relationship since 2015 because of Islamabad’s alleged support for the Afghan Taliban and its nuclear policy.
The two countries want to see a political reconciliation between the Afghan Taliban and Kabul government, Richard Olson, who was US envoy to Pakistan from 2012 to 2015, told the Voice of America Urdu Service in a Facebook Live interview.
“This is an opportunity for Pakistan to rejuvenate ties with Washington by acting as a mediator in the Afghan political reconciliation process,” said Olson who retired in 2016 after his last assignment as US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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“I think Pakistan needs a ‘do-less policy’ instead of a ‘do-more’ one, when it comes to supporting the Afghan Taliban,” he said.
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Olson said that US President Donald Trump administration’s policy of pushing Pakistan to do more is not helpful for both sides. “I think the new government in Islamabad has changed in the sense that it has strategically aligned itself with China,” he added.
Olson said that Pakistan’s relationship with Beijing would be a key influencer in the Pak-US ties, adding that “in the future the US and China will be the main competitors on the global stage.”