Top diplomat: Restraint can help Afghan peace

WASHINGTON» Pakistan’s top diplomat on Wednesday urged the Trump administration’s new envoy for reconciliation in neighboring Afghanistan to be more sensitive to Pakistani opinion than he has been as a private citizen.

The recent appointment of veteran U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has raised hackles in Pakistan. Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, has previously called on the U.S. to declare Pakistan a terrorist state unless it stops harboring insurgents.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that there’s been a negative reaction in the Pakistani press to the appointment because Khalilzad “has made statements in the past which have not been, to be put it mildly, very friendly to Pakistan.”

“He’s been given a new role, and I hope, I would urge him to be more sensitive to opinion in Pakistan,” Qureshi told the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank. “Obviously as individuals we can say what we want, but once you have an official position you have to be more restrained and you have to be more sensitive, because only (then) can you be an honest broker.”

While Qureshi was responding to direct question on the issue, it’s unusual for a foreign diplomat to comment directly on how a particular U.S. official should conduct himself. Qureshi stressed the need for the U.S. and Pakistan to arrest the slide in their troubled relationship, and said that Khalilzad will be visiting Pakistan soon.

The Trump administration has taken a tougher stance toward Pakistan. It has suspended military assistance to the country, saying it isn’t doing enough to eliminate Taliban safe havens in its territory. It also wants Pakistan to use its influence to get the Taliban leadership to enter negotiations with the government in Kabul on ending the 17year war in Afghanistan.