WASHINGTON: Amid increased bonhomie between Pakistan and Russia, the WhiteHouse believes that Moscow does not have a great influence on Islamabad, asenior Trump Administration official has said.
“I don’t particularly believe that there is a great deal of influencethat Russia is asserting over Pakistan even though I do acknowledge theyhave a better relationship than they had five years ago,” a senioradministration official has said.
The official was responding to questions on the recent increase inrelationship between Pakistan and Russia and how much influence it hasover Islamabad.
“But Russia as of now does not have a great deal of influenceover Pakistan, with which its ties is relatively new,” the official said oncondition of anonymity.
“I think the Pakistan-Russia relationship is still something relativelynew,” the senior administration official said noting that Pakistan, beingan independent country is making its own assessment and doing what itconsiders is in its own interests.
However, the official said that the Russian thinking that the Taliban canhelp fight ISIS is a flawed approach. Most of the US soldiers who perishedlast year were in operations against ISIS in Afghanistan.
“So we take a threat from ISIS very seriously. That brings me to Russia.Yes, we see Pakistan and Russia having better relations and they have hadin the past. We also see Russia asserting unhelpful propaganda trying tosay we created ISIS and support ISIS,” the official said.
“ISIS is a threat to Pakistan. And we see Pakistan seeking to deal with theISIS threat. This is an area where we would like to cooperatewith Pakistan,” the official added.