‘Extra steps’ needed to boost mutual Pak-US confidence, says Ahsan
— Underscoring the imperatives for Pakistan and the United States to cooperate in stabilising Afghanistan, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that both countries, which have a long history of relationship, need to take extra steps to build mutual confidence that has ebbed to an all-time low.
In an interview with the Washington Post, the minister also firmly rejected accusation by the Trump administration of supporting terrorist groups and said that Pakistan was taking actions against all groups without any discrimination. Relationship between Pakistan and the US came under new strains after Trump in a tweet accused Islamabad of not fully cooperating in fighting terrorists and days later the administration announced to withhold all security aid. “This whole metaphor of ‘do more’ will not take us anywhere,” the minister said while adding that both countries needed to take “extra steps” to build confidence that was currently at an “all-time low on mutual trust, on both sides”.
The minister said that Pakistan gave a “measured” response to the Trump administration’s criticism as the government still believed that the solution to the Afghan problem was not possible without close collaboration between Pakistan and the US. “We recognise that the US is an important stakeholder in Afghanistan, but Pakistan is the biggest stakeholder.”