Imran is optimistic about ties with US
You know I’m a born optimist. A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks he’s going to win
Imran Khan, Prime Minister
It’s time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitment... We’ve had lots of times where we’ve talked and made agreements, but we haven’t been able to actually execute those
islamabad — Prime Minister Imran Khan met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Islamabad on Wednesday, saying he was “optimistic” he could reset the relationship with Washington after the US refused to disburse $300 million in Coalition Support Fund over the country’s alleged failure to combat militants.
“You know I’m a born optimist,” said Khan, a former cricket star who was sworn in last month. “A sportsman always is an optimist. He steps on the field and he thinks he’s going to win.”
Pompeo spent just four hours in Pakistan, his first visit to the country. At the airport before leaving for neighbouring India, he said he was “hopeful” that a foundation had been laid to move forward.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, lots more discussions to be had,” he said. “It’s time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitment... We’ve had lots of times where we’ve talked and made agreements, but we haven’t been able to actually execute those.”
Pompeo held meetings with Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the powerful Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.
“We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum, economic, business, commercial,” Pompeo said.
He said they also discussed “the work that we all know that we need to do to try to develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan that benefits certainly Afghanistan, but also the United States and Pakistan.”
“I’m hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward,” he said on the tarmac before leaving.
The United States last weekend cancelled a $300 million Coalition Support Fund payment to Pakistan after long complaining that it was not doing enough to combat the Taleban and other militants who attack Afghan and US forces across the porous border.
Pakistan has rejected those allegations, saying it has played a key role in the US-led campaign against extremists that began after the 9/11 attacks.
On the plane to Pakistan, Pompeo announced his appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad, a veteran diplomat who is unpopular in Pakistan, as the new US special adviser on Afghan reconciliation, which could further complicate relations with Islamabad.
Khalilzad “has been very critical of Pakistan in the past and his appointment will not help move things forward,” said Zahid Hussain, a defense analyst and the author of two books on militancy in the region.
Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan and served as US special envoy to the country following the collapse of the Taleban from 2001-2003 and then as US ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003-2005.
He has been critical of Pakistan, often blaming Afghanistan’s deteriorating security and country-wide chaos on Pakistan’s military and powerful ISI intelligence agency, accusing them of harbouring and aiding
Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State
Taleban insurgents. Khalilzad has been criticised for his role in cobbling together an Afghan government of warlords headed by Hamid Karzai following the Taleban’s ouster.
Afghanistan’s corruption-plagued government and, by some accounts, poorly trained security forces have frustrated Afghans and contributed to the country’s deteriorating security situation.
Neither the US nor Pakistan can afford a complete rupture in relations, but Hussain said Islamabad is frustrated that the relationship has been reduced to a single issue: Afghanistan.
“The United States seems only to see Pakistan through the prism of Afghanistan,” he said. “The main thing is we would like to be allies with the US but with dignity.” —