Pakistan alliance with US in doubt ahead of UN talks
Pakistan’s long-standing alliance with the United States has been thrown into doubt as the countries’ leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
US president Donald Trump has lashed out at Pakistan for harbouring “agents of chaos”, as he introduced a new Afghanistan strategy last month.
US officials are now considering further steps to reduce Pakistan’s status as an ally, including targeted sanctions on Pakistani military figures judged to have colluded with Afghan insurgents.
Pakistani prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who will probably meet US vice president Mike Pence in New York today, said that his country would retaliate if its alliance was downgraded.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Sunday, Mr Abbasi said Pakistan could switch its procurement of fighter jets to China from the US.
“We would like to buy more F16s, but we do have other options,” he said.
“We have a long relationship with both the French and the Chinese, and we have been developing the JF-17 alongside the Chinese, which in many ways meets or even exceeds the specifications of the F16.”
Pakistan could restrict US overland access to Afghanistan if it was pushed aside.
“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,” a Pakistani source said.
“That would make the war in Afghanistan a lot more difficult.”
The recently installed Pakistani leader criticised the diplomatic pivot by Washington, saying it had left Islamabad scrambling to find out about American policy from newspapers.
“The signals we get from Washington are confusing, but our message is very clear: we are committed to fighting terrorism and we will continue to fight terrorism,” Mr Abbasi said.
The US has already begun placing conditions on future aid to Pakistan, depending on the progress Islamabad makes in tackling the Haqqani network.
The militant group’s leadership is based in Pakistan and has helped the Taliban to carry out deadly attacks inside Afghanistan, he said.
Mr Abbasi reminded the US that Pakistan has borne the brunt of violence in the socalled war on terror, suffering more than 60,000 casualties since 2001.
Targeted sanctions by Washington against the Pakistani military and intelligence officials are part of an array of options being discussed to pressure Pakistan to change its behaviour, including further aid cuts, US officials said.
The signals from Washington are confusing, but our message is very clear: we are committed to fighting terrorism SHAHID KHAQAN ABBASI Prime minister of Pakistan