FM hints at shifting Pakistan foreign policy focus from US
islamabad — Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad’s foreign policy has for long remained US-centric, but the time has now come to review it and shift its focus towards Moscow and Beijing.
The Foreign Minister highlighted the possibility of a policy shift and said revisiting the Islamabad’s policy was the need of the hour. The minister hinted at an inclination towards the left block of the world, saying “China lives next to us and we have a common wall. Russia can also be our good friend.”
Asif said this while addressing a seminar hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute here.
“We can’t have an independent foreign policy until we are economically strong,” he maintained.
Asif said the US has been Pakistan’s biggest trade partner. “We have to convert our diplomatic outpost to trade outpost,” he said, adding that Islamabad must improve and correct its relationships. Peace in Afghanistan is extremely important for us, he said, adding that the US will have to see relations with Islamabad without the prism of Afghanistan. “We (Pakistan and the US) have a historic and robust relationship.”
About Afghanistan, the minister said Islamabad wants to live peacefully with all its neighbours and the rest of the world. “We want peace in Afghanistan. The Afghan war was a liability for Pakistan. We are still suffering very badly from the Afghan war,” he added.
But “we are trying to manage the situation and to turn the debris into hope”, he said, adding that the debris includes religious radicalism and said the nation was facing its consequences.
Asif statement came on the heel of US defence Secretary Jim Mattis visit to Pakistan who called on Pakistan to redouble its efforts to con-
We can’t have an independent foreign policy until we are economically strong. We have to convert our diplomatic outpost to trade outpost Khawaja Asif, Foreign minister
front militants and terrorists operating within the country. Mattis, who visited Pakistan for the first time as defense secretary, said before the trip that the goal for his meetings with Pakistani officials would be to find “common ground”.
In his discussion with Mattis, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the two allies shared objectives.
“We’re committed (to) the war against terror,” he said. “Nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan.”
Mattis also met high-ranking officials from Pakistan’s powerful military, including army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Lieutenant-General Naveed Mukhtar, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency that U.S. officials say has links with Haqqani and Taleban militants. A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mattis’ conversations had been “straightforward” and specific.