Pakistan could drop US as supplier of military Aircraft for PAF
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LONDON - PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has warned the US that it risks fuelling terrorism in the region and undermining military efforts in Afghanistan if the Trump administration follows through with a threat to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad, Financial Times reported.
The prime minister told Financial Times in an earlier interview that the US’s hardline approach against Pakistan could backfire.
Just days after the Financial Times revealed that the US was considering stripping Pakistan of its status as an ally because of a perceived failure to tackle terrorism, Abbasi said the hardline approach risked backfiring.
He also hinted that Islamabad could drop the US as a supplier of military aircraft.
He did not however go into details as to what other measures Islamabad could take.
But Financial Times quoted a source close to the Pakistani army as saying: “We could make it harder for the US to use supply routes through Pakistan to serve its troops in Afghanistan, and we could stop co-operating on drone attacks. That would make the war in Afghanistan a lot more difficult.”
Abbasi also told the Financial Times that US President Donald Trump’s new war strategy for Afghanistan and the region was “confusing” and that he had to rely on media reports to find out what Trump’s plans were.
“The signals we get from Washington are confusing, but our message is very clear: we are committed to fighting terror and we will continue to fight terror,” Abbasi told the Financial Times.
“All it will do [if the US downgrades Pakistan as an ally] is degrade our efforts to fight terror, and I am not sure if that will work for the US,” he said.
