Pakistan warns US against downgrading it's relationship
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LONDON: US is harming its own trade interests if it follows through on a threat to downgrade its relationship with Pakistan, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has warned.
Just days after the Financial Timesrevealed that the Trump administration was considering stripping Pakistan of its status as an ally because of a perceived failure to tackle terrorism, Abbasi warned this hardline approach risked backfiring.
Speaking to the Financial Times as he prepared to fly to New York to attend the UN general assembly, Abbasi said he found Washington’s Pakistan policy “confusing”, adding that he has to rely on media reports to find out what President Donald Trump’s plans are for the region.
“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 said.
“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.”
Abbasi said he thought the number of American troops in Afghanistan was likely to increase from 8,400 today to 12,000-13,000. But he admitted he found it hard to get clear information from the Trump administration: “We mostly find these things out by reading them in the newspapers.”
The prime minister is reported to be hoping to meet Mike Pence, the US vice-president, while in New York; another meeting is being planned between Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s foreign minister, and Rex Tillerson, his American counterpart.
Abbasi outlined his approach for these talks, saying US co-operation was vital for Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operations. “Some of our weapons are US-manufactured systems,” he said. “If they get degraded it will harm our ability to fight the terrorists.”
