DAVOS (Sputnik) – Pakistan is willing to strengthen ties with Russia in thearea of military cooperation, especially in counterterrorism, and wants tosee more Russian investment in its energy sector, Pakistani ForeignMinister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Sputnik in an interview.
“Our military cooperation with Russia has definitely improved in the last 4years. As a former defense minister, I have the first knowledge of that.But there is still a lot of room for improvement, what we have is notenough and can be multiplied in many times.
We look forward to increasing our cooperation in the military area,especially for counter-terrorism purposes, and we also look forward to theRussian investment in energy sector also, in oil and gas and electricity,”he said.
The minister noted that Russia and Pakistan had common interests in theareas of counterterrorism, fight against drugs, fight against humantrafficking and peace settlement in Afghanistan.
Pakistan is planning to hold new joint military exercises with Russiain 2018, he said.
“Yes, obviously,” he said, when asked whether the joint drills would takeplace this year.
The minister noted that joint military exercises between the two countriestook place “on regular basis.”
*US Financial Aid to Pakistan*
[image: Sections of gas pipes are seen at the start of construction on apipeline to transfer natural gas to Pakistan.]The US decision to suspend financial aid to Pakistan in security area harmsbilateral relations and decreases mutual trust, but has little effecton Islamabad’s efforts to fight against terrorism, Khawaja Muhammad Asifstated.
Muhammad Asif noted that the United States used to in fact pay Pakistan’sbills for using infrastructure and logistical support for the effortsin Afghanistan. He noted that the United States had yet to pay nearly $10billion to Islamabad.
“The point is that we can survive without their so-called financialassistance. That is not a problem. It definitely affects our relationship.It increases the trust deficit between the two states. Reliability of theUnited States in our eyes is definitely going down,” he said.
The minister stressed that the fight against terrorism was a problemfor Pakistan, and Islamabad took care about it “better than anyone elsein the world.”
“As far as the fight against terrorism is concerned, we are fightingterrorism on our own soil with our own resources. In the last four yearsand even before that, in 2011 and 2012, when we were fighting againstterroristslink> in our border areas and other areas, the fight was based purely 100percent on our own resources,” he said.
On January 1, US President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of providing a”safe haven to the terrorists” despite his country’s multi-billionassistance to Pakistan. On January 4, the US Department of State statedthat Pakistan was not being aggressive enough in attacking the AfghanTaliban terrorist group or the Haqqani Network (affiliated with al-Qaedaand Taliban terrorist groups, both banned in Russia) and announced thesuspension of security assistance to Islamabad.
*Tashkent Conference on Afghanistan*
Pakistan is ready to participate in the peace conference on Afghanistan,which is due to take place in March in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, ifinvited, Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in an interview.
“We have a very strong commitment to peace in Afghanistanlink>.We would like to see peace coming back to Afghanistan. I am aware thatthere is this meeting taking place. If we are invited, we will definitelygo to take part in it,” the minister said, when asked whether Islamabad wasplanning to attend the conference.
On January 19, Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov announcedduring the UN Security Council meeting that the agreement was reachedon holding an international conference on peace and security in Afghanistanin Tashkent in March.
*Daesh Terrorists Move to Afghanistan *
The recent successes in the fight against the Daesh (outlawed in Russia)terrorist group have prompted the jihadists to move from the Middle Eastto other countries, such as Afghanistan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif said.
“People are saying that Daesh has finished in Iraq, and Daesh is on the runin Syria. But Daesh has just changed the address — they have cometo Afghanistan. They are not finished. It’s just the change of place,” Asifsaid.
The diplomat added that the militants moving to Afghanistan from the MiddleEast could destabilize a new region either Central Asia or South Asia.